GIFT    OF 
JANE  K.SATHBR 


TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 


A  DISPASSIONATE  SURVEY  OF 

PRESIDENT  BUCHANAN'S  ADMINISTRATION, 

FROM  1860  TO  ITS  CLOSE. 


INCLUDING 


A    BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH     OF    THE     AUTHOR,    EIGHT    LETTERS 

FROM  MR.  BUCHANAN   NEVER  BEFORE   PUBLISHED,   AND 

NUMEROUS   MISCELLANEOUS   ARTICLES. 


BY 

HORATIO   KING, 

EX-POSTMASTER-GENERAL   OF   THE   UNITED    STATES. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
J.   B.   LIPPINCOTT   COMPANY. 

1895. 


COPYRIGHT,  1895, 

BY 
HORATIO  C.  KING. 


ELECTROTYPED  AND  PRINTED  BY  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY,  PHILADELPHIA,  U.S.A. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH    .  7 


PART  I. 

CHAPTEK    I. 

The  Tide  of  Secession  on  the  Election  of  Abraham  Lincoln  ;  Pointed 
Correspondence ;  Fearful  Forebodings 23 

CHAPTER    II. 

Letter  of  President  Buchanan  to  Royal  Phelps,  Esq.,  of  New  York .    .  ^45 

CHAPTER    III. 

Answer  to  Hon.  J.  D.  Ashmore,  M.  C.,  of  South  Carolina,  asking  if  he 
could  frank  Public  Documents,  now  that  his  State  had  "  seceded"  .    .      48 

CHAPTER    IV. 

A  Frank  Answer  to  Hon.  A.  G.  Jenkins,  Member  of  Congress  from 
Virginia,  asking  why  a  Route  Agent  in  his  District  was  removed  .    .      49 

CHAPTER    V. 
The  Peace  Convention  in  1861 52 

CHAPTER    VI. 

Beauregard's  removal  from  West  Point ;  Senator  Slidell's  Anger  ...      55 

CHAPTER    VII. 

The  Governor's  Grievance  ;  an  Amusing  Anecdote 58 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

Letter  to  Nathaniel  Mitchell,  on  the  Wickedness  of  the  Rebellion,  etc.      60 

CHAPTER    IX. 

Address  in  Oxford  and  Paris,  Maine,  in  August,  1862,  on  the  Folly  of 
Secession  ;  Denunciation  of  Rebel  Sympathizers,  etc 72 

CHAPTER    X. 

Reminiscences  of  the  Early  Stages  of  the  Rebellion 85 


823229 


.       CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XI.  PAGE 

'Why  was  not  the  Rebellion  crushed  at  the  Start? 104 

CHAPTER    XII. 

President  Buchanan's  Views  on  the  Right  of  Secession  and  of  Coercion 
as  applied  to  a  State  ;  his  Forbearance ;  his  Letter  on  the  Assassina 
tion  of  Lincoln,  etc 130 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

Letter  to  Rev.  G.  M.  P.  King,  on  the  Progress  of  the  War ;  the  Hand 
of  God  plainly  visible  in  it.  General  Holt's  Comments 143 

CHAPTER    XI Y. 

President  Buchanan's  Record ;  Testimony  of  Judge  Black  and  General 
Holt ;  General  Dix's  Famous  Despatch,  "  Shoot  him  on  the  Spot"  .  151 

CHAPTER    XV. 

Genesis  of  the  Civil  War;  Action  of  the  Government  in  relation  to 
FortSumter;  full  History 154 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

How  General  John  A.  Dix  came  to  be  Secretary  of  the  Treasury   .    .    .    186 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

The  Stolen  Arms  Investigation  ;  Letter  of  Ex-President  Buchanan  .    .    192 


PART  II. 

CHAPTER    I. 
Letters  from  ex-President  Buchanan  never  before  published    .    .    .    .   f    202 

CHAPTER    II. 

Hon.  Robert  C.  Winthrop  and  the  Washington  National  Monument    .    209 


PART  III. 

CHAPTER    I. 

The  Trent  Affair ;  Capture  of  Confederate  States  Commissioners,  Mason 
and  Slidell ;  their  Imprisonment  and  subsequent  Release  ;  Friendly 
Intercession  of  Queen  Victoria  and  Prince  Albert 216 


CONTENTS.  5 

CHAPTEK    II.  PAGE 

Lincoln  at  Gettysburg ;  his  immortal  Address,  etc 236 

CHAPTEK    III. 
Lincoln  and  McClellan 241 

CHAPTEK    IV. 

President  Buchanan's  Vist  to  Col.  Thos.  H.  Benton  on  his  Death-bed   .    243 

CHAPTEK    V. 

Assassination  of  President  Lincoln ;  Terrible  Commotion ;  Trial  and 
Conviction  of  Mrs.  Surratt  and  others 256 

CHAPTER    VI. 

General  Holt  and  the  Conspirators  ;  his  Complete  Vindication  against  the 
vile  Slanders  of  his  Enemies 269 

CHAPTEK    VII. 

Account  of  the  Bursting  of  the  "Peacemaker"  on  the  Potomac  near 
"Washington  ;  Two  Members  of  the  Cabinet  and  other  distinguished 
Gentlemen  killed 278 

CHAPTEK    VIII. 

My  First  and  Last  Sight  of  President  Lincoln V    282 

CHAPTEK    IX. 

The  Duel  between  Jonathan  Cilley,  of  Maine,  and  "William  J.  Graves, 
of  Kentucky,  both  Members  of  Congress ;  Death  of  Mr.  Cilley ;  In 
dignation  of  the  People .  . 287 

CHAPTEK    X. 

Narrative  of  the  Battle  of  Bladensburg  and  Burning  of  the  Capitol  and 
President's  House,  etc 316 

CHAPTEK    XI. 

The  "Bladensburg  Kaces,"  a  humorous  Ballad 343 

CHAPTEK    XII. 

Comments  on  the  Narrative  by  George  K.  Gleig,  retired  Chaplain- 
General  of  the  British  Army,  in  his  Ninetieth  Year,  who  was  a 
participant  in  the  Battle 347 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

History  of  the  Official  "  Penalty  Envelope" 350 


6  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   XIV.  PAGE 

An  Hour  with  Daniel  Webster ;   Specimens  of  his  Poetry ;    his  Last 
Sickness  and  Death 352 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Visit  to  Sir  Rowland  Hill ;  Origin  of  Penny  Postage 366 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

Incidents  in  the  Life  of  Sir  "Walter  Raleigh ;  did  he  destroy  the  Second 
Part  of  his  History  of  the  World  ?..... 370 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

The  Star-spangled  Banner ;  how  this  patriotic  Song  came  to  he  written    374 


PART  IV. 

CHAPTER    I. 
Employment  Necessary  to  Happiness — a  Farm  Poem 377 

CHAPTER    II. 
Life :  a  Poem  on  its  Mystery 386 

CHAPTER    III. 
Poetry  an  Inspiration 388 

CHAPTER    IV. 

Crossing  the  Ocean  ;  original  Ocean  Hymns 390 

CHAPTER    V. 

The  Tarleton  Raid,  and  how  Thomas  Jefferson  "  saved  his  Bacon"    .   .    394 

CHAPTER    VI. 
Army  Poem.     Apostrophe  to  the  Flag 398 


PART  V. 

CHAPTER    I. 

Biographical  Sketch  of  Queen  Victoria 402 

Letter  from  Sir  Julian  Pauncefote,  British  Ambassador 419 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH 

OF 

HORATIO     KING. 


FOR  one  who  has  loved,  admired,  and  revered  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  from  earliest  recollection,  to  write  a  brief 
biography  without  prejudice  is  not  an  easy  matter.  His 
life  for  more  than  fourscore  years  has  been  without  spot  or 
blemish  in  my  sight,  and,  to  avoid  the  appearance  of  undue 
partiality,  I  shall  rely  mainly  upon  the  comments  of  those 
who  knew  him  well  and  intimately,  although  not  connected 
with  him  by  ties  of  consanguinity. 

Horatio  King  was  the  son  of  Samuel  and  Sally  (Hall) 
King,  and  was  born  in  Paris,  Maine,  June  21,  1811.  His 
father  was  a  farmer  and  emigrated  from  Massachusetts.  His 
grandfather  was  George  King,  of  Raynham,  in  the  State 
last  named,  who,  with  his  three  brothers,  served  in  the 
war  for  independence.  George  was  orderly-sergeant  and 
clerk  of  the  Eaynham  Company,  and  one  of  his  brothers  fell 
in  the  war.  Like  most  of  the  old  and  patriotic  stock  of  the 
Revolution  and  their  immediate  descendants,  these  ancestral 
relatives  of  his  were  stanchly  Democratic,  which  may,  so 
far  as  early  impressions  go,  account  for  Mr.  King's  political 
orthodoxy.  Like  most  of  the  country-reared  young  men 
of  that  period,  he  was  brought  up  on  the  farm  and  had  a 
personal  knowledge  of  what  life  upon  the  farm  is,  or  rather 
what  it  was  at  that  time,  for  it  is  somewhat  different  now. 
His  poem  herein,  entitled  "  Employment  Necessary  to  Hap 
piness,"  may  be  taken  as  descriptive  in  no  slight  degree  of 
his  farm  life. 

In  the  ordinary  acceptance  of  that  term,  Mr.  King  was 

7 


1  'BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF 

not  liberally  educated,  though  he  supplemented  by  careful 
study  and  voluminous  reading  and  research  the  education 
which  the  common  schools  afforded.  To  a  strongly  practi 
cal  training  he  added  by  his  own  exertions  unusual  literary 
culture,  acquiring  among  other  accomplishments  a  good 
knowledge  of  the  French  language,  which  aided  him 
greatly  in  his  subsequent  official  career. 

The  whole  course  of  his  education,  meaning  by  that  word 
the  training  of  mind  and  body  to  the  full  development  of 
their  powers  and  usefulness,  has  been  eminently  practical. 
For  the  elementary  knowledge  essential  or  highly  useful 
to  every  pursuit  in  life,  such  as  reading,  spelling,  writing, 
grammar,  arithmetic,  and  geography,  there  were  no  better 
schools  in  the  world  than  the  common  schools  of  New 
England;  and  of  these,  in  childhood  and  early  youth,  he  en 
joyed  the  full  benefits ;  and  for  the  useful  concerns  of  life,  a 
knowledge  of  human  nature,  of  human  character,  and  the 
varied  transactions  of  human  life  and  of  our  political  and 
social  conditions  and  institutions, — never  to  be  learned  or  un 
derstood  in  college, — perhaps  no  one  pursuit  is  so  truly  and 
widely  useful  as  that  of  the  printer  and  newspaper  editor. 

At  an  early  age,  in  the  spring  of  1829,  Mr.  King  went  into 
the  office  of  the  Jeffersonian,  a  thorough  Jackson  Democratic 
paper,  then  published  in  his  native  town,  for  the  purpose 
of  acquiring  an  expert  knowledge  of  the  printing  business 
and  to  befit  himself  to  conduct  the  paper,  in  case  he  should 
like  the  business  well  enough  to  purchase  the  establishment. 
After  being  in  the  office  about  a  year  he  became  connected 
with  the  paper  as  one  of  its  proprietors,  and  six  months 
after  became  sole  proprietor,  being  then  a,bout  nineteen 
years  of  age,  employing  a  village  lawyer,  at  a  salary  of  twelve 
York  shillings  a  week,  to  assist  him  in  editing  the  sheet. 
In  1832  he  cast  his  first  vote  for  General  Jackson,  and  shortly 
afterwards  assumed  the  entire  editorial  management  of  his 
paper.  Its  files  show  him  to  have  been  consistent  and 
earnest  in  his  denunciation  of  South  Carolina  nullification, 


HOEATIO  KING.  9 

and  throughout  General  Jackson's  administration  the  Jef- 
fersonian  firmly,  consistently,  and  energetically  supported 
the  Old  Hero ;  and  when  Mr.  Van  Buren  was,  by  the  refusal 
of  the  Senate  to  confirm  his  nomination,  recalled  from  Eng 
land,  where,  during  the  recess,  the  President  had  sent  him 
as  minister,  the  Jeffersonian  was  among  the  first  papers  in 
the  country  to  run  up  his  name  for  the  Presidency. 

In  1833  the  unfortunate  division  of  the  Democracy  of 
Maine  took  place,  and  Mr.  King  was  induced  to  remove  his 
press  to  Portland  in  May  of  that  year.  The  consequence 
was  a  sharp  family  quarrel  on  State  and  local  matters,  wilich 
lasted  two  or  three  years,  when  many  of  his  principal  com 
petitors,  with  their  journalists  at  their  head,  went  over  bodily 
to  the  enemy.  From  first  to  last  Mr.  King  has  combated 
with  like  zeal  every  scheme  which  looked  towards  disunion. 

He  continued  to  edit  the  Jeffersonian  until  1838,  when  he 
sold  the  paper  to  the  Standard,  which  was  soon  after  merged 
in  the  Eastern  Argus,  and  may  be  said  to  "  still  live"  in  the 
columns  of  that  stanch  advocate  of  Democratic  principles. 
This  terminated  his  professional  connection  with  the  public 
press. 

But  if  anything  more  were  wanting  to  complete  Mr. 
King's  practical  education  and  his  knowledge  of  business 
and  of  human  nature,  what  better  school  could  have  been 
found  than  that  which  he  enjoyed  in  his  twenty-two  years' 
connection  with  all  the  various  concerns  and  operations 
of  the  Post-Office  Department?  There,  if  anywhere,  the 
whole  lesson  was  presented,  and  by  a  careful,  diligent,  and 
intelligent  observer  could  be  thoroughly  learned.  And  in 
that  school,  as  was  proved  by  his  successive  promotions, 
and  especially  by  his  eminent  fitness  for  and  usefulness  in 
the  responsible  and  important  positions  which  he  occupied, 
he  was  neither  an  indifferent  nor  an  unsuccessful  student. 
Gifted  with  a  clear  head,  a  quick  perception,  and  indomi 
table  industry,  coupled  with  a  firm  resolution  to  know 
thoroughly  whatever  his  actual  business  or  pursuit  rendered 


10  BIOGKAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF 

it  necessary  or  desirable  for  him  to  know,  and  brought  con 
tinually  into  business  contact  with  shrewd,  active  minds, 
his  business  education  was  most  complete  and  effectual. 

In  the  fall  of  1838,  Mr.  King  went  to  Washington  to  look 
for  a  newspaper  opening,  and,  not  finding  one  to  his  mind, 
he,  in  March,  1839,  accepted  a  clerkship  at  $1000  per  annum 
in  the  Post-Office  Department,  tendered  him  by  the  then 
Postmaster-General,  Amos  Kendall.  Thus,  at  the  foot  of 
the  ladder,  he  commenced  that  connection  which  proved 
alike  beneficial  to  the  country  and  honorable  to  himself, 
and  whence  he  climbed,  every  step  marked  by  his  ability  and 
energy,  to  the  chief  position.  For  a  series  of  years  he  was 
corresponding  clerk  for  New  England  in  the  Contract  Office, 
a  position  of  considerable  responsibility  and  requiring  for 
the  proper  discharge  of  its  duties  the  closest  application  and 
a  large  amount  of  labor. 

Towards  the  close  of  1850  commenced  his  connection 
with  the  foreign  mail  service,  he  being  at  that  time  trans 
ferred  to  a  corresponding  desk  having  that  matter  in  charge. 
In  this  connection  his  services  were  of  the  most  beneficial 
character,  and  have  fully  entitled  him  to  the  lasting  grati 
tude  of  his  countrymen,  from  the  success  which,  under  his 
management,  attended  the  effort  to  extend  and  improve  our 
postal  arrangements  with  foreign  nations.  In  these  days, 
when  lines  of  steamships  map  the  ocean  as  lines  of  railroads 
do  the  land,  when  almost  every  important  commercial  city 
of  Europe,  the  islands,  and  South  America  have  their  cor 
responding  connection  with  some  city  of  our  Union,  who 
ever  really  and  essentially  has  improved  this  branch  of  the 
service  has  conferred  a  benefit  upon  nations  which  not  only 
the  present  but  future  generations  will  fully  appreciate. 

Up  to  1851  no  postal  conventions  had  been  entered  into 
with  any  European  governments  except  Great  Britain  and 
Bremen ;  and  thus,  as  has  been  well  said  by  another,  "  an 
entirely  new  field  was  left  to  be  explored,  and  one  which, 
in  view  of  the  various  lines  of  Atlantic  steamers,  just  then 


HORATIO  KING.  11 

projected  and  becoming  more  and  more  objects  of  interest 
and  attention,  opened  not  only  an  untried  field,  but  one  of 
vast  complications  and  perplexities.  It  was  to  this  wide 
and  interesting  field  of  endeavor  that  he  was  invited,  and 
the  results  which  have  followed  were  eminently  his  work. 
To  his  comprehensive  genius  and  that  characteristic  energy 
which  he  possesses  in  an  eminent  degree,  the  nation  is  pri 
marily  indebted  for  those  splendid  results  which  have  ex 
tended  our  postal  arrangements  to  every  part  of  the  com 
mercial  world,  and  gone  hand  in  hand  with  the  rapidly 
advancing  strides  which  steam  and  lightning  have  taken 
in  every  direction.  Here  Mr.  King  found  scope  for  every 
latent  energy  of  his  mind.  He  was  obliged  to  familiarize 
himself  with  statistics  and  with  a  vast  range  of  inquiries 
not  heretofore  made  in  this  country.  lie  found  the  postal 
arrangements  already  made  with  Great  Britain  and  Bremen 
imperfect  and  unsatisfactory.  They  were  revised  and  im 
proved.  With  regard  to  Bremen,  he  and  Hon.  Rudolph 
Schleiden,  the  Bremen  Minister,  prepared  articles  of  agree 
ment,  approved  by  their  respective  governments,  by  which 
the  half-ounce  letter-rate  was  reduced  from  twenty  cents 
(then,  1853,  the  lowest  rate  to  Europe)  to  ten  cents,  which 
was  the  beginning  of  low  postage  across  the  Atlantic.  Be 
sides  this,  postal  arrangements  were  soon  in  rapid  succes 
sion  effected  with  the  West  Indies,  with  several  of  the  South 
American  states,  and  with  Prussia,  France,  Hamburg,  and 
Belgium. 

O 

The  giving  of  credit  for  these  things  to  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  does  not  at  all  detract  from  nor  depreciate  the 
merits  or  services  of  his  official  superiors.  They  are  justly 
entitled  to  the  general  credit  of  these  important  arrange 
ments,  in  the  same  degree  that  the  President  enjoys  the 
credit  of  a  successful  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the 
government.  In  both  cases  the  laborious  details  are 
planned,  arranged,  and  perfected  by  assistants  and  ad 
visers  ;  yet  as  the  responsibility  mainly  attaches  to  the 


12  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF 

head,  so  the  general  credit  should  follow.  But  this  de 
tracts  no  whit  from  the  merits  or  the  just  appreciation  of 
the  laborious  and  intelligent  subordinate,  who  ascertains 
facts,  systematizes  and  arranges  details,  and  in  reality  gets 
up  the  entire  matter,  which  the  superior  has  only  to  ex 
amine  and  sanction.  In  this  respect  Mr.  King,  in  the  work 
of  these  postal  arrangements,  is  entitled  to  the  very  highest 
credit,  as  no  one  could  have  performed  the  duties  of  his 
position  with  more  correctness  and  ability. 

In  the  spring  of  1854,  on  the  death  of  Major  Hobbie, 
Mr.  King,  without  solicitation  on  his  part,  was  appointed 
by  President  Pierce  to  the  office  of  First  Assistant  Post 
master-General.  To  his  subordinates  he  was  considerate, 
kind,  and  obliging ;  requiring  of  them,  as  he  should,  to  have 
all  the  business  entrusted  to  them  speedily  and  properly 
done  and  their  work  kept  up,  but  never  acting  captiously 
nor  finding  fault  needlessly.  One  secret  of  his  official 
success  was  his  exactitude  in  keeping  all  his  business  in 
hand,  his  desk  at  the  close  of  each  day  being  always 
clear  of  papers,  and  his  positive  requirement  of  his  clerks 
that  everything  sent  to  their  desks  should  be  promptly 
attended  to.  It  may  be  mentioned  here,  also,  that  he 
never  allowed  his  office  door  to  be  locked,  never  cared 
for  cards,  but  was  always  ready  to  receive  official  callers 
whose  business  he  was  there  to  perform  without  any  hin- 
derance  or  embarrassment  of  personal  introduction. 

His  success  in  dealing  with  so  many  men  of  all  parties 
and  all  positions  in  life  without  making  enemies  is  remark 
able.  It  may,  perhaps,  be  accounted  for  in  two  ways :  that 
he  had  no  personal  interest  to  subserve  in  what  was  done, 
and  manifestly  cared  only  to  know  and  to  do  what  was 
right ;  and  that  when  obliged  to  refuse  a  request,  he  re 
membered  and  put  in  practice  the  old  saying,  that  "  to 
refuse  kindly  what  is  asked  of  you  is  itself  a  boon." 

As  a  public  officer  Mr.  King  was  indefatigable,  and  de 
voted  his  whole  time  and  all  the  energies  of  his  mind  and 


HORATIO  KING.  13 

body  to  the  duties  of  his  position.  His  constant  endeavor 
was  to  have  the  work  of  the  people,  so  far  as  he  was  con 
cerned,  well  and  faithfully  executed.  His  efforts  to  protect 
the  Department  against  fraud  and  loss  of  revenue  were  per 
sistent.  He  especially  labored  to  defeat  all  attempts  to  use 
the  mails  without  paying  for  the  privilege  in  contravention 
of  the  law  and  to  the  detriment  of  an  already  overburdened 
Department.  As  one  of  the  many  evidences  of  his  zeal  in 
this  matter,  I  recall  the  fact  of  his  sitting  up  all  night  and 
laboring  in  the  House  of  Representatives  to  secure  the  pas 
sage  of  the  law  requiring  prepayment  of  postage  on  letters, 
which  was  actually  passed  at  five  o'clock  on  a  Sunday  morn 
ing.  The  law  exacting  prepayment  by  stamps  on  transient 
printed  matter  was  also  drafted  by  him ;  and  no  one  having 
any  acquaintance  with  our  postal  affairs  will  need  to  be  told 
that  this  law  effects  a  large  saving  to  the  Department,  both 
in  respect  to  the  weight  of  the  mails  and  the  extra  amount 
of  postage  received. 

Few  men  ever  had  the  hardihood  to  approach  Mr.  King 
with  a  dishonorable  proposition  of  any  kind.  The  reputa 
tion  for  stern  integrity,  and  the  possession  of  it,  in  a  place 
like  that  filled  by  him,  are  of  the  very  highest  importance ; 
and  in  both  respects  he  was  entirely  suited  to  the  place. 
His  memory,  too,  of  what  occurred  in  the  Department 
during  his  connection  with  it  was  remarkable,  and  showed 
that,  unlike  many  officials,  he  was  not  satisfied  with  the 
simple  performance  of  the  routine  duties  of  his  office, 
but  had  an  intelligent  eye  to  the  whole  operations  of 
each  Bureau,  and  a  vivid  and  long-enduring  recollection  of 
whatever  took  place  under  his  own  particular  supervision. 

]S"or,  while  constantly  immersed  in  business  since  the 
early  age  of  nineteen,  had,  Mr.  King  neglected  the  pur 
suits  of  literature  or  of  science,  but  was  proficient  in 
both.  Every  leisure  hour  has  always  been  sedulously 
devoted  to  the  acquirement  of  knowledge. 

As  a  writer,  his   style   is   terse,  simple,  vigorous,  and 


14  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF 

manly.  His  points  are  clear,  his  arguments  pertinent  and 
forcible,  and  his  language  choice  and  chaste. 

As  a  politician  Mr.  King  has  been  always  a  firm,  con 
sistent,  unflinching  Democrat,  though  not  ultra.  He  has 
lent  a  willing  and  hearty  support  to  every  Democratic  ad 
ministration  since  he  has  been  old  enough  to  exercise  the 
privileges  of  a  citizen. 

He  held  the  position  of  First  Assistant  Postmaster-Gen 
eral  until  the  1st  of  January,  1861,  when  he  became  Acting 
Postmaster-General,  and  on  the  1st  of  February  he  was 
nominated  by  President  Buchanan  and  on  the  12th  con 
firmed  by  the  Senate  as  Postmaster-General,  serving  in  that 
capacity  until  the  inauguration  of  President  Lincoln  and 
the  appointment  of  his  successor,  March  7,  1861.  He 
filled  all  these  important  places  with  fidelity  and  distin 
guished  ability.  He  was  Postmaster-General  when  treason 
stalked  with  a  bold  front  through  the  streets  of  the  national 
capital. 

As  a  life-long  Democrat,  Mr.  King  was  loyal  to  the  core, 
and  remained  so  during  the  entire  struggle.  Though  ex 
empted  by  the  law  from  the  performance  of  military  duty, 
he  furnished  a  representative  recruit,  who  was  duly  mus 
tered  in  and  served  in  the  Union  Army.  This  exhibition 
of  patriotism  and  public  spirit  received  official  acknowl 
edgment  from  the  Government. 

After  retiring  from  the  Post-Office  Department,  he  was 
appointed,  in  April,  1862,  one  of  a  Board  of  Commissioners 
to  carry  out  the  provisions  of  the  Emancipation  Procla 
mation  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  This  position  was 
tendered  him  by  President  Lincoln  unsolicited,  and  doubt 
less  on  account  of  his  conspicuous  services  near  the  close 
of  the  previous  administration. 

His  associate  commissioners  were  Daniel  R.  Goodloe  and 
Dr.  John  M.  Brodhead,  with  Wm.  R.  Woodward  as  clerk 
and  B.  M.  Campbell  as  expert.  Of  this  important  work, 
Mr.  Goodloe  wrote : 


HORATIO  KING.  15 

"  The  whole  number  of  claims  presented  within  the  time  limited  by 
law  was  nine  hundred  and  sixty-six,  and  the  number  of  slaves  embraced 
by  them  was  three  thousand  one  hundred.  Of  these  claims,  thirty-six  in 
whole  and  twenty- one  in  part  were  rejected  as  the  result  of  our  investiga 
tions,  for  reasons  of  disloyalty  or  for  defects  in  the  titles.  These  rejected 
claims  embraced  one  hundred  and  eleven  slaves,  for  whom  compensation 
was  withheld,  and,  as  above  stated,  two  thousand  nine  hundred  and  eighty- 
nine  were  paid  for  under  the  Act  of  April  16,  1862. 

"  In  addition  to  these  cases,  thirteen  other  applications  were  made  after 
the  expiration  of  three  months,  that  being  the  time  within  which  petitions 
were  required  by  the  act  to  be  presented.  Under  the  circumstances  of 
absence  and  ignorance  of  the  existence  of  the  law,  it  was  decided  to  value 
the  slaves,  twenty-eight  in  number,  embraced  in  these  thirteen  cases,  and 
recommend  them  to  the  favorable  consideration  of  Congress.  The  claims 
were  all  paid  by  special  appropriations.  The  total  number  of  slaves 
paid  for,  therefore,  was  three  thousand  and  seventeen.  The  twenty-eight 
above  referred  to  fell  below  the  average,  the  award  for  them  being  only 
$9912.50.  The  commissioners  recommended  also  two  or  three  other 
cases  to  Congress, — cases  in  which  the  right  of  the  slaves  to  freedom 
under  the  act  was  contested  on  the  ground  that  they  were  here  as 
runaways.  In  such  instances  the  commissioners  leaned  to  the  side  of 
freedom,  but  at  the  same  time  were  not  unwilling  for  the  parties  to  have 
the  benefits  of  the  law  as  loyal  claimants." 

The  duty  having  been  expeditiously  and  satisfactorily 
completed,  the  commission  waited  upon  President  Lincoln. 
"  He  received  us,"  says  Mr.  Goodloe,  "  as  he  did  every  one, 
with  the  frankness  and  cordiality  of  the  honest  and  true- 
hearted  man  he  was.  When  we  informed  him  that  we  had 
finished  our  work,  he  replied  that  he  was  glad  to  know  that 
somebody  had  finished  something,  and  that  he  wished  his 
work  was  done.  After  some  pleasant  conversation  our  com 
mission  retired,  and  adjourned  sine  die." 

The  service  of  the  commission  was  limited  to  nine  months, 
and,  on  finally  leaving  office,  Mr.  King  went  into  a  quiet 
business  as  an  attorney  before  the  executive  departments 
and  international  commissions,  which  he  followed  until  about 
twenty  years  ago,  when  he  retired  as  far  as  practicable  from 
active  work.  Mr.  King  has  twice  made  the  tour  of  Europe, 
first  in  1867  and  again  in  1875-76.  The  latter  tour  was 


16  BIOGEAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF 

somewhat  more  extended  than  the  first,  and  on  his  return 
he  published  a  book,  entitled  "  Sketches  of  Travel,  or  Twelve 
Months  in  Europe."  He  has  written  much  and  upon  a  great 
variety  of  topics,  and  has  also  lectured  on  various  occasions. 
He  delivered  an  oration  before  the  Union  Literary  Society 
of  Washington  in  1841,  which  was  published.  He  also  origi 
nated  a  series  of  Saturday  evening  literary  entertainments 
at  his  private  residence,  which  became  very  popular.  Feb 
ruary  2, 1884,  the  hundredth  meeting  was  held,  and  the  pro 
ceedings  wrere  printed  in  a  neat  pamphlet  of  forty-eight  pages. 
He  has  for  many  years  been  a  contributor  to  newspapers  and 
magazines  on  historical,  political,  and  literary  subjects, 
some  of  the  articles  being  translations  from  the  French. 

He  has  retained  in  a  remarkable  degree  both  his  mental 
and  physical  powers.  Never  idle,  each  day  finds  some  new 
and  congenial  work  for  his  ready  hands.  During  the  com 
paratively  long  period  of  freedom  from  professional  labors, 
he  has  had  abundant  time  to  cultivate  the  social  amenities 
prominent  in  his  disposition.  Among  his  numerous  asso 
ciations  he  has  enjoyed  especially  the  close  friendship  of  the 
venerable  Justin  S.  Merrill,  Senator  from  Vermont,  and 
Robert  C.  Winthrop,  of  Massachusetts,  recently  deceased. 
Of  late  years,  at  every  recurring  birthday  anniversary  of 
these  honored  gentlemen,  he  has  been  accustomed  to  address 
to  each  some  appropriate  greeting  in  rhyme,  literary  waifs, 
so  to  speak,  of  which  the  following  are  examples : 

"  WASHINGTON,  May  12,  1886. 
"  HON.  EGBERT  C.  WINTHROP, 

"  Boston,  Mass. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — We  read  that  Horace  Walpole  said,  '  A  careless 
song  with  a  little  nonsense  in  it,  now  and  then,  does  not  misbecome  a 
monarch ;'  and  some  rhymer,  like  the  present,  has  popularized  the  senti 
ment  by  the  trite  couplet, — 

'  A  little  nonsense  now  and  then 
Is  relished  by  the  wisest  men.' 

"  I  venture,  therefore,  to  inflict  on  you  another  birthday  effusion.  But 
I  honestly  think  Lord  Tennyson  and  I  had  better  quit  rhyming,  if  we 


HORATIO  KING.  17 

expect  to  go  down  to  posterity  with  colors  untarnished ! — he  because  he 
is  evidently  getting  past  his  time,  and  /  because  I  do  not  seem  to  have 
arrived  at  mine ! 

"  With  profound  respect, 

"  Very  sincerely  yours, 

"HoKATio  KING." 


"WASHINGTON,  May  12,  1886. 
DEAR  MR.  WINTHROP, — 

"  Is  there  any  fine, 
Or  other  penalty,  for  writing  rhyme  ? 
As  time  rolls  round  and  brings  the  genial  spring, 
All  Nature  smiles  and  birds  their  carols  sing. 
Then  why  not  I,  '  a  bird  of  passage/  too, 
Send,  greeting,  some  poetic  notes  to  you  ? 
Sure  I  will  try,  in  spite  of  sprites  and  gnomes, 
If  you  will  make  it  right  with  Lowell  and  Holmes  I 
Far  be  it  from  remotest  thought  of  mine 
Their  w ell-  earned  reputation  to  outshine ! 
But,  without  verse,  how  could  I  well  convey 
Congratulations  on  your  Natal  Day — 
The  seventy  seventh,  now  the  12th  of  May — 
The  real  purpose  of  this  humble  lay  ? 
Long  life  and  happiness  to  THEE  and  THINE  ! 
Eeceive  the  wish  sincere  of  ME  and  MINE, 
Who  come  warm  greetings  from  our  hearts  to  bring, 
Dear  Friend, 

Most  truly  yours, 

HORATIO  KING, 
"HON'BLE  ROBT.  C.  WINTHROP, 

"Boston,  Mass." 


And  the  following,  addressed  to  his  elder  brother,  Alonzo, 
now  deceased,  on  his  eighty-first  birthday : 

"  DEAR  BROTHER  :  We  are  growing  old, 

Your  hair  is  thin  and  gray ; 
I've  passed  my  '  threescore  years  and  ten,' — 
You're  eighty-one  to-day. 
2 


18  BIOGEAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF 

"  But,  though  we  count  our  years  by  scores, 

We  reckon  not  by  time  ; 
Our  spirits,  fresh  and  full  of  life, 
Are  still  but  in  their  prime. 

"  Methinks  I  see  us  boys  again, 

At  work  upon  the  farm, 
Or,  task  well  done,  in  healthful  play, 
With  naught  to  dread  or  harm. 

"  O  blessed  days  of  youth  at  home, 

Where  all  looked  bright  and  fair, 
And  under  the  paternal  roof 
We  felt  no  weight  of  care  ! 

"  Mind  you  when  we  were  twelve  at  home, 

With  parents,  sisters  three, 
And  brothers  seven,  in  union  sweet  ? — 
A  pleasant  sight  to  see ! 

"  Oh,  happy,  happy  days  were  those 

When  life  with  us  was  new, 
And  no  dark  cloud  had  crossed  our  path 
To  shadow  hope's  bright  view. 

"  But  in  this  world  of  ceaseless  change, 

How  strong  soe'er  the  tie 
Of  kindred,  friends,  of  all  mankind, 
The  word  is,  *  once  to  die/ 

"  Thus,  in  the  course  of  fleeting  years, 

We  find  our  little  band 
Keduced  one-half—half  here,  and  half 
Gone  to  the  spirit-land. 

"  Thrice  happy  they  who  wait  for  us 

On  that  celestial  shore ; 
They've  entered  into  heavenly  rest, 
To  grieve  and  weep  no  more. 

"  And  as  we  near  that  happy  land, 

It  is  a  joy  to  know 

Dear  friends  stand  waiting  for  us  there, 
Who  loved  us  here  below. 


HOKATIO  KING.  19 

"  Then  let  us  cheerful  bide  our  time, 

Nor  yield  to  doubt  or  gloom  : 
The  '  silver  lining'  on  the  cloud 
Appears  beyond  the  tomb. 

"  Affectionately, 

"  HORATIO  KING. 
«  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  February  3,  1882." 

I  venture  also  to  insert  still  another,  addressed  to  Senator 
Justin  S.  Morrill,  on  his  eighty-second  birthday,  April  14, 
1892. 

"DEAR  MR.  MORRILL: 

"  Once  more,  by  promise  bound,  I  come  to  greet 
You  warmly  on  your  natal  day, — the  eighth 
Since,  self-appointed,  I  became,  in  sooth, 
The  Poet- Laureate,  in  MORRILL  sense 
Par  excellence,  if  not  to  King  or  Queen, 
At  least  to  one  of  high  estate  and  true, 
Whose  laurel  wreath,  entwined  around  his  brow, 
Is  mark  conclusive  of  his  noble  rank. 

"  FOURSCORE  AND  TWO  !    This,  surely,  is  a  theme 
On  which  to  moralize  in  sober  thought, 
In  view  of  life's  remotest  bounds,  and  when 
So  near  must  seem,  to  all  who  reach  that  goal, 
The  portals  of  the  bright  celestial  spheres. 

"  Although,  three  years  ago,  in  playful  mood, 
I  greeted  you,  '  As  Youth  to  Age/  the  truth 
Demands  admission  frank  that  I  have  come 
So  close  upon  your  steps,  I  now  behold 
Your  fresh-made  footprints  near  the  hither  shore. 

"  What  matters  it,  though  eighty  years,  or  more, 
Crowd  close  upon  us,  if  in  mind  and  strength 
We  hold  our  place  intact  in  active  life  ? 
And  then,  what  matters,  when  our  work  is  done, 
If  summons  sudden  come  to  call  us  home  ? 
It  is  not  death,  though  bearing  that  dread  name, 
But  birth,  since  real  life  begins,  not  ends, 
When  darkness  shrouds  the  silent  tomb. 


20  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF 

"  Doubt  not ! 
But  trust  implicit  in  a  Love  Divine. 

"  Peace,  health,  and  joy  attend  you  evermore. 
"  Very  sincerely, 

"HOKATIO  KING." 

For  sixteen  years  he  took  great  pleasure  in  his  duties  as 
a  member,  and  most  of  the  time  as  secretary,  of  the  "Wash 
ington  National  Monument  Society,  and  had  the  great  sat 
isfaction  of  witnessing  the  completion  and  dedication  of 
the  beautiful  marble  obelisk, — a  magnificent  tribute  to  the 
memory  of  the  Father  of  his  Country.  Congress,  having 
put  the  monument  and  everything  concerning  it  under  the 
charge  of  the  War  Department,  and  the  work  allotted  to 
the  Society  having  been  accomplished,  he,  with  other  of  his 
associates,  tendered  their  resignations. 

Mr.  King  spends  his  winters  in  Washington,  and  since 
1882,  about  four  months  each  season,  has  resided  at  his  sum 
mer  home  in  West  Newton,  Mass.,  where  with  his  own  hands 
he  has  cultivated  a  garden  and  raised  most  of  the  vegetables 
required  for  his  own  family. 

On  May  25,  1835,  he  married  Ann  Collins,  of  Portland, 
Maine,  by  whom  he  had  seven  children, — only  three  of 
whom,  Mrs.  Annie  A.  Cole,  of  Washington,  D.  C. ;  General 
Horatio  C.  King,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  Henry  F.  King, 
of  West  Newton,  Mass.,  survive.  The  others  died  young. 

His  first  wife  died  September  22,  1869,  and  he  married, 
February  8, 1875,  Isabella  G.  Osborne,  of  Auburn,  N.  Y. 

Mr.  King's  somewhat  eventful  life  has  been  one  of  great 
usefulness.  In  all  the  positions  he  has  filled  he  has  inaugu 
rated  important  improvements,  including,  within  the  last 
few  years,  that  of  the  onicial  "  Penalty  Envelope,"  a  conve 
nient  and  economical  device  ;  and  by  his  literary  efforts  he 
has  contributed  much  to  elevate  the  tone  of  society  at  the 
national  capital.  He  is  a  notable  example  to  the  youth  of 
his  country.  Born  and  bred  under  circumstances  which 


HORATIO  KING.  21 

gave  him  no  greater  advantages  than  are  enjoyed  by  a  large 
majority  of  the  young  men  of  our  Union,  he  has  attained 
by  his  own  energy,  industry,  and  perseverance  an  exalted 
station,  and  made  for  himself  a  name  and  a  reputation  of 
which  any  man  may  well  be  proud.  He  has  succeeded 
because  he  has  diligently  and  untiringly  used  the  means, 
and  the  only  sure  means,  to  accomplish  those  ends.  Our 
country  has  its  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  as  richly 
gifted  by  nature,  and  as  much  favored  by  circumstances,  as 
was  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  who,  by  pursuing  the  same 
methods,  may  attain  equally  distinguished  success. 

HORATIO  C.  KING. 


TURNING  ON  THE   LIGHT. 


PART   I. 
CHAPTER  I. 

ELECTION    OF    ABRAHAM    LINCOLN. 

Treasonable  Course  of  the  Constitution  Newspaper — Correspondence  of 
ex-President  Pierce,  John  A.  Dix,  Postmaster  of  New  York,  Nahum 
Capen,  Postmaster  of  Boston,  Hon.  D.  S.  Dickinson,  and  the  Author, 
with  Remarks  on  the  Loyalty  of  President  Buchanan. 

I  HAVE  often  regretted  that  I  did  not  keep  a  complete 
diary  of  the  more  important  events  at  Washington  during 
the  fall  and  winter  of  1860-61 ;  but  the  truth  is,  I  had  not 
the  requisite  time  and  strength  to  do  it,  so  onerous  were 
the  official  duties  then  devolving  upon  me.  I  did,  however, 
find  time  to  make  some  brief  notes,  and  these,  with  some 
of  my  private  letters  hastily  thrown  off  in  connection  with 
my  official  correspondence,  serve  to  refresh  my  recollection 
of  many  of  the  startling  occurrences  of  that  appalling  epoch. 
Many  of  these  private  notes  were  addressed  to  General  Dix 
and  Mr.  Capen,  the  postmasters  of  Xew  York  and  Boston, 
through  whose  kindness  I  obtained  copies  of  them,  those 
from  General  Dix  having  been  received  about  a  year  before 
his  death.  Of  others  of  my  letters  I  fortunately  retained 
copies,  and  all,  together  with  the  answers  to  some  of  them, 
have  been  shown  to  a  few  friends,  who  have  earnestly  ad 
vised  me  to  allow  them  to  be  published.  To  this  I  have 
consented,  hesitatingly,  with  the  assurance  that  any  seem- 

23 


24  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

ing  egotism  will  be  pardoned,  if  not  overlooked,  since  it  is 
apparent  that  I  am  not  actuated  by  any  selfish  motive. 

I  have  put  the  letters  as  nearly  in  their  order  of  date  as 
practicable,  introducing  only  such  explanatory  remarks  as 
may  seem  necessary  to  their  correct  understanding. 

"  P.  O.  DEPARTMENT,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C., 

"  October  16,  1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, —  .  .  .  Politically  the  signs  look  dark.  It  is  painful 
to  hear  so  many  sound  and  conservative  men  give  it  as  their  decided 
opinion  that  there  will  certainly  be  resistance  to  Lincoln's  administration 
of  the  government.  Property  holders  in  this  district  are  greatly  con 
cerned. 

"  Very  respectfully  and  truly  yours, 

"  HORATIO  KING. 
"HON.  JOHN  A.  Dix,  P.  M.,  New  York." 

"  P.  O.  DEPARTMENT,  November  7,  1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, —  ...  I  write  this  (on  the  business  of  the  department) 
early  in  the  morning,  before  seeing  hardly  any  one.  The  bright  sun  is 
shining  into  my  office  window,  and  everything  is  quiet,  but  a  weight 
presses  on  my  heart  which  I  never  felt  so  sensibly  before — all  foreboding 
'  breakers  ahead/ 

"  Very  respectfully  and  truly, 

"HORATIO  KING. 
"  HON.  JOHN  A.  Dix,  New  York." 

"P.  O.  DEPARTMENT,  APPT.  OFFICE, 

"November?,  1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — As  indicating  how  I  feel  to-day,  I  take  the  liberty 
of  enclosing  a  copy  of  a  letter  I  sent  to  the  President  this  forenoon. 

"The  article  in  the  'Constitution'  referred  to  will  do  infinite  mischief, 
and  I  am  not  certain  that  the  writer  of  it  ought  not  to  be  stretched  up  as 
a  traitor.  I  presume,  however,  it  is  the  result  only  of  bad  judgment. 

"  Very  truly, 

"  HORATIO  KING. 
"  HON.  JOHN  A.  Dix,  New  York." 

"  WASHINGTON,  November  7,  1860. 
"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — The  die  is  cast,  and  Lincoln  is  elected. 
"  Shall  we  now  fan  the  flame  of  disunion,  or  shall  we  exert  our  in 
fluence  toward  calming  the  already  excited  sentiment  of  the  South  ? 


ELECTION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  25 

"  What  course  should  we,  here  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  pursue  ? 
Should  we  join  hands  with  the  disunionists  and  help  on  the  storm,  or 
should  we  not  rather  pour  oil  on  the  troubled  waters  ?  .  .  . 

"  My  own  will  illustrate  the  condition  of  thousands  in  this  district. 
With  us  everything  depends  on  the  Union  being  preserved. 

"  What,  then,  was  my  indignation  on  learning  that  men  holding  office 
here  under  your  administration  were  parading  the  streets  here  this  morn 
ing  with  disunion  cockades  on  their  hats !  and  the  leading  article  of  the 
1  Constitution'  to-day  can  have  no  other  effect  than  to  encourage  and  fan 
the  flame  of  disunion,  both  here  and  at  the  South. 

"  You  will  bear  me  witness  that  I  have  never  intruded  myself  upon 
your  counsels.  But  may  I  not,  in  the  most  respectful  yet  in  the  most 
earnest  manner,  now  appeal  to  you — for  if  you  are  silent  your  enemies 
will,  I  am  sure,  attempt  to  hold  you  responsible  for  these  things — to  use 
your  power  in  at  once  checking  this  dread  spirit  of  disunion  here  in  our 
midst  ? 

"  With  great  respect, 

"  Very  sincerely  your  friend, 

"  HORATIO  KING. 

"His  EXCELLENCY,  JAMES  BUCHANAN." 

The  editorial  article  of  the  Constitution  referred  to  in 
the  preceding  letter  concludes  as  follows  : 

"  We  can  understand  the  effect  that  will  be  produced  in  every  South 
ern  mind  when  he  reads  the  news  that  he  is  now  called  on  to  decide  for 
himself,  his  children,  and  his  children's  children,  whether  he  will  submit 
tamely  to  the  rule  of  one  elected  on  account  of  his  hostility  to  him  and 
his,  or  whether  he  will  make  a  struggle  to  defend  his  rights,  his  inheri 
tance,  and  his  honor." 

"CONCORD,  N.  H.,  November  7,  1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — Your  note  of  the  5th  inst.  has  just  been  received, 
and  I  must  thank  you  for  your  prompt  attention  to  my  little  request,  in 
which  I,  of  course,  had  no  personal  interest. 

"  So  far  as  returns  of  the  election  have  reached  us,  I  can  discern  but 
one  green  spot,  and  that  the  Fifth  Massachusetts  District.  Mr.  Apple- 
ton's  election  is  important  in  several  aspects,  but  under  the  circumstances 
it  could  have  been  predicted  with  no  confidence. 

"  Indeed,  it  is  singular,  considering  the  sweep  of  this  foul  current,  that 
the  only  signal  defeat  should  have  met  a  man  who  has  floated  so  long  and 
securely  upon  its  surface  as  Mr.  Burlingame.  As  the  overthrow  of  a 
party  merely,  the  result  [of  the  presidential  election]  is  comparatively  of 


26  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

little  moment.     As  a  distinct  and  unequivocal  denial  of  the  co-equal 
rights  of  these  States  I  cannot  help  regarding  it  as  fearful. 

"  My  apprehensions,  I  confess,  are  stronger  than  my  hopes,  but  I  will 
trust  in  that  good  Providence  which  has  hitherto  held  together  these 
confederated  States.  Will  you  present  my  very  kindest  regards  to  Mr. 
Holt  ?  I  shall  never  cease  to  prize  his  friendship. 

"  Yours  truly, 

"FRANKLIN  PIERCE. 
"  HON.  HORATIO  KING,  1st  Assist.  P.  M.  General,  Washington,  D.  0." 

"  (PRIVATE.) 

"  NEW  YORK,  November  22,  1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, —  .  .  .  We  have  divers  reports  of  disagreements  in 
the  Cabinet  in  regard  to  the  disunion  movements  in  the  South.  I  hear 
nothing  from  Cobb  in  reply  to  my  letter. 

"  There  is  a  great  fallacy  at  the  basis  of  all  the  secession  movements. 
It  is  this,  that  the  violation  of  a  compact  by  one  of  the  parties  releases 
all,  assuming  our  federal  system  to  be  identical  with  a  contract  between 
individuals  for  certain  purposes.  It  is  totally  different,  and  is  not  subject 
to  the  same  reasoning  and  conclusions.  The  States  have  organized  a 
central  government  and  ceded  to  it  a  part  of  their  sovereignty.  The 
violation  of  the  compact,  to  warrant  a  release  of  the  parties,  must  be  on 
the  part  of  the  central  government,  and  not  of  one  of  the  associates. 
Mr.  Gushing,  in  his  late  letter,  loses  sight  of  this  distinction — a  vital  one, 
as  I  think,  in  all  our  reasonings  concerning  the  present  disunion  move 
ments.  In  haste,  I  am, 

"  Truly  yours, 

"  JOHN  A.  Dix. 
"HON.  HORATIO  KING." 

"  (CONFIDENTIAL.) 

"  P.  O.  DEPARTMENT,  APPT.  OFFICE,  November  23,  1860. 
"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — Your  private  note  of  yesterday  is  received.  I  have 
shown  it  to  the  Postmaster-General.  I  am  told  both  the  President  and 
Mr.  Cobb  are  under  a  good  deal  of  excitement.  I  have  no  doubt  the 
friends  of  the  President  are  determined  to  know  whether  there  is  seces 
sion  in  the  Cabinet,  and  whether  the  President  is  responsible  for  the  infa 
mous  course  of  the  Constitution.  And  all  you  can  do  to  this  end  will  be 
a  public  benefit.  .  .  . 

"  Things  are  looking  a  little  better  in  Georgia  to-day. 

"  Very  respectfully  and  truly  yours, 

"HORATIO  KING. 
"  HON.  JOHN  A.  Dix,  New  York." 


ELECTION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  27 

"  WASHINGTON,  November  25,  1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  would  call  and  report  to  you  what  I  know  of  the 
feelings  of  your  friends  whom  I  met  recently  in  a  flying  visit  to  my 
native  State,  but  that  I  know  you  are  much  occupied.  May  I  not,  there 
fore,  be  allowed  to  say  to  you  briefly,  in  writing,  that  their  most  anxious 
desire  is  that  the  President  will  cast  the  whole  weight  of  his  influence 
against  the  secession  movements  at  the  South  and  in  support  of  the 
Union  ?  Among  those  whom  I  met  was  General  Dix,  who,  of  course,  is 
greatly  concerned  with  reference  to  the  present  excitement.  He  had 
written  both  to  Mr.  Cobb  and  Mr.  Breckinridge,  pressing  them  to  come 
out  boldly  against  secession.  The  inclosed  note  from  him  may  be  in 
teresting  to  you.  You  need  not  trouble  yourself  to  return  it. 

"  I  hope  I  shall  not  be  deemed  obtrusive.     My  great  desire  is  that  the 
Union  may  be  preserved,  and  that  in  your  noble  efforts  to  that  end  you 
may  know  that  all  your  true  friends  will  stand  by  you  to  the  last. 
"  I  have  the  honor  to  be, 

"  Very  sincerely  your  friend, 

"HORATIO  KING. 
"His  EXCELLENCY,  JAMES  BUCHANAN." 


"  (CONFIDENTIAL.) 

"  P.  O.  DEPT.,  November  25, 1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  have  good  reason  to  believe  that  the  President  is 
beset  by  secessionists,  who  are  almost  exclusively  occupying  his  atten 
tion;  and  it  is  important  that  the  true  friends  of  the  Union  should  do  all 
in  their  power  to  strengthen  his  hands.  Why  will  you  not  either  write  or 
come  and  see  him,  and  get  all  the  strong  men  of  your  city  to  do  the  same? 
I  cannot  call  names,  but  rest  assured  what  I  tell  you  is  true.  The  course 
of  the  'Constitution'  is  infamous,  but  the  President,  I  presume,  has  no 
means  of  controlling  it.  Pray  let  him  hear  from  you  all  in  a  most  de 
cided  manner  on  this  subject.  Let  him  know  how  much  the  paper  and 
suspicions  of  disunion  influences  near  him  are  injuring  him. 

"  Stephens's  speech  is  admirable ;  but  observe  that  you  do  not  see  it,  or 
anything  like  it,  in  the  'Constitution'  Get  the  papers  to  come  out  and 
denounce  the  ' Constitution'  You  may  rely  upon  it,  all  its  secession  arti 
cles  are  directly  against  the  feelings  of  the  President. 

"  As  the  existence  of  the  Department  depends  on  the  stability  of  the 
Union,  I  shall  treat  this  as  '  on  official  business/ 

"  Yours  truly, 

"HORATIO  KING. 

"HON.  JOHN  A.  Dix,  New  York." 


28  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

"  (UNOFFICIAL.) 
"P.  O.,  NEW  YORK,  November  27,  1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — It  is  impossible  for  me  to  leave  here  at  this  moment, 
and  I  have  an  insuperable  repugnance  to  a  visit  to  Washington.  On 
receipt  of  your  letter  I  sat  down  to  write  to  the  President,  but  constant 
interruptions  prevented  me  from  finishing  it.  Besides  I  have  some  doubt 
whether  it  would  do  good.  I  have  made  some  inquiry  in  regard  to  the 
editor  of  the '  Constitution?  and  incline  to  the  belief  that  he  cannot  be  in 
fluenced  from  this  quarter.  At  all  events,  those  who  might  influence  him 
think  as  he  does.  I  am,  in  a  quiet  way,  doing  all  I  can  to  promote  a 
better  feeling  at  the  South.  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  nothing  I  have  yet 
done  has  met  with  a  response  from  any  of  our  Southern  friends.  I 
believe  we  shall  have  to  rely  entirely  on  the  efforts  of  our  conservative 
friends  there.  They  seem  at  present  to  be  overborne  by  the  general  ex 
citement.  I  cannot  think  this  will  last.  There  must,  at  least,  be  an 
effort  to  prevent  a  dissolution.  I  trust  events  here  may  aid  the  conserva 
tive  movement  there.  Vermont  is  moving  to  repeal  her  personal  liberty 
bills,  with  what  success  remains  to  be  seen.  Massachusetts  will  follow 
her  lead,  and,  I  think,  will  repeal. 

"  I  shall  send  my  letter  to  the  President  this  evening  or  to-morrow. 

"  With  sincere  regards,  yours, 

"HON.  HORATIO  KING."  "JOHN  A.  Dix. 

"  P.  0.  DEPT.,  APPT.  OFFICE,  November  27,  1860. 
"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — Our  chief  clerk,  Mr.  Clements,  and  myself  had  an 
hour  with  the  President  last  evening,  and  our  interview  was  most  satis 
factory.  Mr.  C.  has  just  returned  from  Tennessee,  and  brings  good  news 
from  that  State  to  the  effect  that  nearly  everybody  there  is  opposed  to  the 
hasty  action  of  South  Carolina,  and  is  in  favor  of  one  more  effort  to  pre 
serve  their  rights  in  the  Union.  The  President  appeared  to  be  much 
gratified  to  be  reassured  of  this.  He  is,  as  I  supposed,  a  firm  Union  man. 
I  told  him  about  your  writing  to  and  not  receiving  any  answer  from  Mr. 
Cobb,  and  he  remarked  that  it  would  not  do  the  slightest  good  to  write  to 
him.  I  expressed  myself  freely  to  him  about  the  course  of  the  Constitu 
tion  newspaper,  and  told  him  how  much  it  had  injured  him,  etc.,  etc.  I 
have  no  doubt  he  will  take  strong  ground  in  his  message  against  seces 
sion,  as  well  as  the  right  of  secession ;  but  were  I  allowed  to  guess,  I 
would  say  that  he  will  not  be  in  favor  of  using  force  unless  the  property 
of  the  United  States  is  interfered  with,  such  as  the  taking  of  the  forts, 

etc.,  when  he  would  be  obliged  to  act. 

"Very  truly, 

"  HORATIO  KING. 
"  HON.  JOHN  A.  Dix,  P.  M.,  New  York." 


ELECTION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  29 

"  (CONFIDENTIAL.) 
"  P.  O.  DEPT.,  APPT.  OFFICE,  November  25, 1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  am  well  assured  that  the  President  is  beset  by 
men  who  are  for  breaking  up  the  Union, — secessionists,  who  strongly 
advocate  the  right  of  secession, — while  the  true  friends  of  the  Union 
seem,  to  a  great  extent,  to  keep  aloof.  Why  they  keep  away  I  cannot 
comprehend,  unless  they  think  the  Constitution  newspaper  speaks  the  sen 
timents  of  the  President,  which  is  certainly  not  the  fact.  Rest  assured, 
the  President  will  stand  firmly  for  the  Union  ;  and  what  I  think  is  now 
important  is  that  his  hands  should  be  strengthened  from  every  quarter. 
You  can  do  much  to  this  end  by  writing  him  briefly  and  pointedly  on 
this  subject,  and  you  can  get  other  strong  men  in  Boston  to  do  the  same. 
You  will  know  best  whom  to  call  on ;  but  let  this  be  strictly  confidential 
so  far  as  my  name  is  concerned. 

"  Don't  hesitate  to  denounce  the  disunion  course  of  the  Constitution, 
and  speak  of  the  reports  of  secession  feelings  in  the  Cabinet  as  most 
unfortunate  for  the  country  and  highly  injurious  to  the  President's  rep 
utation. 

"  Act  immediately.    Things  look  worse  and  worse  every  day. 

"  Very  truly  yours, 

"  HORATIO  KING. 

"  NAHUM  CAPEN,  P.  M.,  Boston,  Mass." 

"  BOSTON,  November  28,  1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  have  read  your  note  to  several  gentlemen  of  note, 
and  all  agree  as  to  the  importance  of  your  views  and  agree  with  you,  but 
they  have  a  delicacy  about  writing  to  the  President  unasked.  I  inclose 
a  note  which  I  received  last  evening  from  Mr.  Everett,  and  though  I  do 
not  exactly  agree  with  him,  yet  I  can  understand  how  he  and  others  may 
entertain  such  opinions  and  have  such  feelings. 

"  Of  course,  I  did  not  mention  your  name,  because  you  requested  me 
not  to  do  so.  I  simply  stated  that  the  letter  was  from  a  distinguished 
person — one  who  was  fully  advised  of  what  was  going  forward. 

"  The  feeling  here  is  decidedly  that  the  New  England  States  will  repeal 
their  nullification  enactments.  Vermont  has  the  subject  up,  and  I  am 
told  to-day  that  Connecticut  will  do  it  by  a  large  majority.  The  same 
is  expected  of  Massachusetts. 

"  Very  sincerely, 

"NAHUM  CAPEN. 

"  HON.  HORATIO  KING,  Washington." 

A  word  further  of  explanation  here.  I  saw  how  the 
President  was  beset  by  the  leading  secessionists,  and  I  was 


30  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

most  anxious  to  have  earnest  Union  men  come  to  his  relief. 
I  felt  sure,  too,  that  the  latter  were  kept  away  on  account 
of  the  very  fact  that  the  former  were  known  to  occupy  a 
large  part  of  his  time  and  attention.  It  was  unquestiona 
bly  owing  in  a  great  degree  to  the  persistency  of  these  de 
termined  disunionists  in  this  regard,  that  the  President's 
health  and  strength  were  so  nearly  exhausted  toward  the 
last  that  it  was  only  with  great  and  painful  effort  that  he 
was  enabled  to  perform  the  fearful  duties  devolving  upon 
him.  Some  days,  I  remember,  the  Cabinet  sessions  were 
held  in  the  library,  because  he  was  too  unwell  to  come  into 
his  office.  No  sooner  were  the  members  of  his  Cabinet 
dismissed  than  one  or  more  of  the  leaders  stood  ready  to 
be  ushered  into  his  presence,  and  one  after  another,  often 
several  together,  they  came,  keeping  him  up  until  late  in 
the  night.  No  one  can  tell  what  torture  he  must  have  been 
thus  subjected  to  by  them  in  their  efforts  to  attain  their 
ends.  Never  before,  I  imagine,  was  a  president  more  re 
joiced  to  be  relieved  from  the  responsibilities  of  office  than 
James  Buchanan,  on  the  4th  of  March,  1861. 

"  LOWELL,  MASS.,  Nov.  26, 1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — Your  letter  was  received  at  Concord  on  Saturday, 
and  I  should  have  answered  it  while  there  if  I  could  have  found  a  little 
interval  of  leisure.  I  am  here  to-day  on  business,  and  can  therefore  do 
scarcely  more  than  to  thank  you ;  but  let  so  much,  at  least,  be  said.  The 
apprehensions  which  you  so  forcibly  express  did  not  increase  mine.  You 
know  how  sincerely  and  earnestly  I  have  for  years  deprecated  the  causes 
which,  if  not  removed,  I  foresaw  must  produce  the  fearful  crisis  which  is 
now  upon  us ;  and  I  know  how  ineffectual,  in  this  section,  have  been  all 
warnings  of  patriotism  and  ordinary  forecast.  Now,  for  the  first  time, 
men  are  compelled  to  open  their  eyes,  as  if  aroused  from  some  strange 
delusion,  upon  a  full  view  of  the  nearness  and  magnitude  of  impending 
calamities.  It  is  worse  than  idle — it  is  foolhardy — to  discuss  the  question 
of  probable  relative  suffering  and  loss  in  different  sections  of  the  Union. 
In  case  of  disruption  we  shall  all  be  involved  in  common  financial  em 
barrassment  and  ruin,  and,  I  fear,  in  common  destruction  so  much  more 
appalling  than  any  attendant  upon  mere  sacrifice  of  property,  that  one 
involuntarily  turns  from  its  contemplation.  To  my  mind  one  thing  is 


ELECTION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  31 

clear :  no  wise  man  can,  under  existing  circumstances,  dream  of  coercion. 
The  first  blow  struck  in  that  direction  will  be  a  blow  fatal  even  to  hope. 
"  You  have  observed,  of  course,  how  seriously  commercial  confidence, 
and  consequently  the  price  of  stocks,  etc.,  have  already  been  shaken  at 
the  North,  and  yet  there  is  in  the  public  mind  a  very  imperfect  apprehen 
sion  of  the  danger.  Still,  there  are  indications  of  a  disposition  to  repeal 
laws  directed  against  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  Southern  States, — 
such  as  personal  liberty  bills,  etc. — and  if  we  could  gain  a  little  time, 
there  would  seem  to  be  ground  of  hope  that  these  just  causes  of  distrust 
and  dissatisfaction  may  be  removed.  I  trust  the  South  will  make  a  large 
draft  on  their  devotion  to  the  Union,  and  be  guided  by  the  wise  modera 
tion  which  the  exigency  so  urgently  calls  for.  Can  it  be  that  this  flag, 
with  all  the  stars  in  their  places,  is  no  longer  to  float,  at  home,  abroad, 
and  always,  as  an  emblem  of  our  united  power,  common  freedom,  and 
unchallenged  security  ?  Can  it  be  that  it  is  to  go  down  in  darkness,  if 
not  in  blood,  before  we  have  completed  a  single  century  of  our  independ 
ent  national  existence  ?  I  agree  with  you  that  madness  has  ruled  the 
hour  in  pushing  forward  a  line  of  aggressions  upon  the  South,  but  I  will 
not  despair  of  returning  reason  and  of  a  re-awakened  sense  of  constitu 
tional  right  and  duty.  I  will  still  look  with  earnest  hope  for  the  full 
and  speedy  vindication  of  the  co-equal  rights  and  co-equal  obligations  of 
these  States,  and  for  restored  fraternity  under  the  present  Constitution — 
fraternity  secured  by  following  the  example  of  the  fathers  of  the  repub 
lic — fraternity  based  upon  admission  and  cheerful  maintenance  of  all  the 
provisions  and  requirements  of  the  sacred  instrument  under  which  they 
and  their  children  have  been  so  signally  blessed.  When  that  hope  shall 
perish,  if  perish  it  must,  life  itself,  my  friend,  will  lose  its  value  for  you 
and  me.  It  is  apparent  that  much  will  depend  upon  the  views  expressed 
and  the  tone  and  temper  manifested  during  the  early  days  of  the  session 
of  Congress  now  near  at  hand.  May  the  God  of  our  fathers  guide  the 
counsels  of  those  who  in  the  different  departments  of  government  are 
invested  in  this  critical  epoch  with  responsibilities  unknown  since  the 
sitting  of  the  convention  which  framed  the  Constitution. 

"  Your  friend, 

"FRANKLIN  PIERCE." 

"  CONCORD,  N.  H.,  Dec.  6,  1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — Your  letter  of  November  30  I  found  here  on  my 
return  from  Hillsboro  yesterday,  and  also  several  northern  papers  con 
taining  my  letter  to  Secretary  Thompson. 

"  Since  the  action  of  the  Vermont  Legislature  upon  the  report  of  the 
Judiciary  Committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  declaring  the  '  per 
sonal  liberty  bill'  of  that  State  to  be  clearly  unconstitutional,  I  am  in 


32  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

despair  with  regard  to  any  amendment  of  errors  at  the  North,  so  far  as 
the  question  of  slavery  is  concerned.  Eeason  has  surrendered  its  throne, 
all  sense  of  patriotism,  justice,  and  right  seems  to  have  departed  forever 
from  the  black  Republican  portion  of  the  country.  If  the  legislature  of 
this  State  were  convened  to-day,  I  do  not  believe  that  they  would  repeal 
their  unconstitutional  laws.  When  I  say  this  you  will  understand  that  I 
think  the  Union  has  already  reached  its  termination. 

"  It  seems  to  me  that  few  men  in  this  crisis  suffer  so  keenly  as  I  do. 
With  regard  to  pecuniary  loss,  it  is  nothing.  I  do  not  take  it  into 
the  account.  It  is  not  worth  considering.  We  can  all  have  bread,  if  we 
will  work  for  it,  but  we  shall  never  have  again  the  glorious  ensign  of  our 
country,  which  has  been  the  object  of  our  just  admiration,  the  type  of 
our  power,  and  the  shield  of  our  protection  the  world  over. 

"Your  friend, 

"FRANKLIN  PIERCE. 

"  HON.  HORATIO  KING,  Washington,  D.  C." 

"  P.  0.  DEPT.,  APPT.  OFFICE,  Dec.  10,  1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, —  .  .  .  Madness  still  rules  the  hour.  Would  it  not 
be  well  to  call  public  meetings  at  the  North  to  give  expression  to  the  con 
servative  sentiment  and  show  the  true  men  of  the  South  the  importance 
of  standing  by  their  Northern  friends  in  the  Union  ? 

"  Very  truly, 

"HORATIO  KING. 
"  NAHUM  CAPEN,  ESQ.,  P.  M.,  Boston,  Mass." 

"  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  Dec.  10,  1860. 

"MY  DEAR  SIR, —  .  .  .  Things  look  at  present  very  dark;  but  some 
of  the  mad  and  drunken  spirits  from  the  South  are  acting  so  outrageously 
that  the  better-disposed  Southern  men  are  becoming  disgusted.  I  was 
credibly  informed  that  yesterday,  or  day  before,  not  less  than  six  South 
ern  Representatives,  who  are  open  disunionists,  were  so  drunk  that  they 
were  wholly  unfit  for  any  business, — indeed,  disgracefully  drunk!  and 
these  are  the  kind  of  men  into  whose  hands  the  destinies  of  our  country 
seem  at  this  moment  to  have  been  placed ! 

"  Cobb  has  resigned.  «  yery  truly 

"  GEN.  Dix,  New  York."  "  HORATIO  KING. 

"NEW  YORK,  Dec.  11,  1860. 

"  DEAR  SIR,—  .  .  .  Alas  for  the  Union !  I  fear  its  safety  is  hopeless 
if  it  depends  on  such  as  your  note  describes.  But  I  will  not  cease  to  hope. 

"  Very  sincerely, 
"HON.  HORATIO  KING."  "JOHN  A.  Dix. 


ELECTION  OF  ABEAHAM  LINCOLN.  33 

"  (PRIVATE.) 
"P.  O.  DEPT.,  APPT.  OFFICE,  Dec.  12,  1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — Your  note  of  yesterday  is  received. 

"  It  is  becoming  every  day  more  and  more  apparent  that  there  is  quite 
a  large  party  at  the  South  who,  traitors  at  heart,  are  resolved  on  effecting 
a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  even  though  the  North  were  to  yield  to  the 
utmost  of  their  former  demands,  and  these  men  are  now  in  the  lead. 
One  of  them  kept  his  place  in  the  government  till  forced  to  resign  from 
very  shame,  and  there  are  others  of  smaller  calibre  who  are  still  retained, 
— traitors  in  the  camp. 

"  And  we  are  to  allow  the  best  government  in  the  world  to  be  destroyed 
in  the  first  hour  of  danger,  without  an  effort  to  demonstrate  that  if  states 
men  will  but  do  their  duty  it  is  capable  of  withstanding  far  more  serious 
shocks  than  that  with  which  it  is  now  threatened.  What  mockery  of 
statesmanship !  What  imbecility  !  What  culpable  wickedness !  Will 
not  the  God  of  nations  send  down  his  thunderbolts  and  arrest  the  base 
wretches  who  are  thus  plotting  our  ruin  ? 

"  It  seems  now  to  be  pretty  generally  conceded  that  the  cotton  States 
will  secede,  and  the  next  thing  is  to  avoid  a  conflict  on  that  account,  or 
the  whole  country  will  be  ablaze  with  civil  war  ! 

"  Very  respectfully  and  truly  yours, 

"  HORATIO  KING. 
"HON.  JOHN  A.  Dix,  New  York." 

"  (PRIVATE.) 

"NEW  YORK,  14  Dec.,  1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — Your  note  received  yesterday  is  confirmed  to-day 
in  its  worst  anticipations.  I  did  not  answer  because  I  have  been  busy 
preparing  an  address  to  the  people  of  the  South,  to  be  submitted  this 
evening  to  a  committee,  and  passed  upon  to-morrow  at  a  larger  but  not 
a  public  meeting.  I  do  not  know  that  any  appeal,  in  whatever  fraternal 
feeling  it  may  be  made,  will  be  of  any  avail,  but  I  think  we  have  the 
right  to  ask  our  Southern  friends  to  pause  and  listen  to  us.  If  they  refuse, 
I  see  no  issue  out  of  the  present  darkness  but  in  darker  strife. 

"  Yours  cordiajjy, 

"JOHN  A.  Dix. 
"HON.  HORATIO  KING." 

"WASHINGTON,  Dec.  14,  1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — It  may  seem  presumptuous  in  me,  an  humble  subor 
dinate,  to  address  you  on  great  matters  of  state,  but  my  apology,  if  any 
is  necessary,  must  be  that  I  am  an  American  citizen,  with  all  that  ardent 

3 


34  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

love  for  my  country  and  its  government  which  should  ever  animate  the 
true  patriot,  and  especially  in  times  of  danger  like  the  present. 

"  I  am  amazed  that  some  decided  action  is  not  taken  by  the  Govern 
ment  to  cut  itself  entirely  loose  from  disunion  and  disunionists.  Look  at 
the  Constitution  newspaper  of  to-day — and,  indeed,  I  may  say,  of  every 
issue  since  the  Presidential  election.  Its  whole  bearing  is  for  disunion ; 
and,  say  what  you  will,  the  Government  is  held,  and  will  be  held,  in  a 
great  degree  responsible  for  it.  It  was  the  organ  to  which  the  message 
was  confidentially  intrusted,  and  its  columns  are  daily  filled  with  adver 
tisements  which  it  receives  and  can  receive  only  by  favor  of  the  President, 
for  its  circulation  would  not  secure  them  to  it  by  law. 

"  I  saw,  as  every  person  of  observation  must  have  seen,  the  very  day  after 
the  election,  that  its  influence  was  directed  toward  secession,  and  I  felt 
myself  compelled  immediately  to  call  the  attention  of  the  President  to  it, 
as  I  did  in  a  letter,  a  copy  of  which  I  herewith  inclose  for  your  perusal. 

"  I  know  how  the  President  is  pressed  by  the  secessionists,  and  I  sym 
pathize  fully  in  all  reasonable  measures  to  be  taken  within  the  Union  to 
secure  the  rights  of  the  South,  and  consign  to  infamy  the  leaders  of  black 
republicanism  at  the  North ;  but,  as  his  devoted  friend  and  the  friend  of 
every  member  of  his  Cabinet,  I  cannot  restrain  myself  from  the  expres 
sion  of  the  deepest  astonishment  and  mortification  that  the  Government 
should  for  one  moment  allow  itself  to  occupy  such  a  position  as  to  afford 
even  its  enemies  a  pretext  to  charge  it  with  giving  the  slightest  counte 
nance,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  to  secession  or  secessionists. 

"  Is  it  not  possible  to  relieve  the  administration  from  the  infamy  which 
must  attach  to  it  for  all  time,  so  far  as  it  is  made  responsible  for  the 
course  of  the  Constitution,  and  for  keeping  men  in  responsible  positions 
who  are  known  and  avowed  disunionists  ?  For  God's  sake,  let  us  see  the 
Government  placed  squarely  and  unequivocally  on  the  side  of  the  Union ! 
With  great  respect, 

"  Very  sincerely  your  friend, 

"HORATIO  KING. 

"  HON.  J.  S.  BLACK,  Attorney-General  U.  S." 


"  P.  O.  DEPT.,  APPT.  OFFICE,  Dec.  15,  1860. 

"MY  DEAR  SIR, — Your  letter  to  Jefferson  Davis  is  excellent,  and  I 
have  sent  it  forward  through  the  P.  O. 

"  You  will  see  the  President's  proclamation  and  the  address  of  the 
disunionists  in  the  Constitution  (the  secession  organ)  of  to-day. 
"  I  need  hardly  say  that  I  am  desponding  to  the  last  degree. 

"  Very  truly, 

"  HORATIO  KING. 
"  NAHUM  CAPEN,  ESQ.,  P.  M.,  Boston,  Mass." 


ELECTION   OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  35 

"  P.  O.  DEPARTMENT,  APPT.  OFFICE,  Dec.  17,  1860. 

"MY  DEAR  SIR, — Your  private  letter  of  the  14th  inst.  came  duly  to 
hand.  ...  I  inclose,  for  your  private  eye  and  that  of  any  of  our  friends, 
the  copy  of  a  letter  I  was  addressing  to  General  Cass  at  the  very  moment 
I  heard  of  his  resignation.  I  therefore  sent  it  to  Judge  Black.  You 
may  think  it  injudicious,  but  I  am  determined  to  sustain  the  Union  until 
not  a  hope  for  its  continuance  remains. 

"  The  papers  state  the  main  reason  of  General  Cass's  resignation,  but  I 
know  that  he  has  long  felt  as  I  have  about  the  course  of  the  Constitution 
newspaper. 

"  Very  respectfully  and  truly, 

«  GEN.  Dix,  New  York."  "  H°RATIO  KING. 

"  P.  O.  DEPT.,  APPT.  OFFICE,  Dec.  18,  1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  have  read  your  address  with  great  pleasure.  It  is 
cheering  to  read  such  a  paper  in  the  midst  of  the  infamous  articles  and 
speeches  of  treason  that  have  of  late  been  so  common.  The  Intelligencer 
of  to-day  has  a  stinging  article,  which  I  wish  you  would  read.  Let  all 
traitors  be  shown  up,  and  the  solid  people  will  assign  them  to  their  proper 
places.  Don't  let  us  permit  their  conduct  to  be  so  far  winked  at  even  as 
to  afford  a  shield  to  black  Eepublicans  who  are  the  original  aggressors. 
"  Very  respectfully  and  truly, 

"  HON.  J.  A.  Dix,  New  York."  "  HORATIO  KING. 

"NEW  YORK,  19  Dec.,  1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  thank  you  for  your  excellent  letter  to  Judge  Black. 
I  am  as  much  disgusted  as  you  are  at  the  encouragement  given  to  the 
secessionists.  I  am  for  making  all  reasonable  concessions.  .  .  .  But  the 
Government  should  quietly  and  firmly  maintain  the  central  authority. 

"  I  am  glad  you  like  the  address.  I  have  written  to  leading  Southern 
men — some  of  them  secessionists — against  the  right  of  secession,  and 
especially  against  an  attempt  to  break  up  the  Union  on  the  grounds 
assumed  by  South  Carolina.  But  in  a  fraternal  appeal  intended  to  gain 
time  for  readjusting  existing  differences,  I  thought  it  not  wise  to  intro 
duce  any  topic  on  which  our  Southern  brethren  are  sensitive.  .  .  . 

"  I  am  very  truly  yours, 

"  HON.  HORATIO  KING."  "  JOHN  A'  Dix' 

"  P.  O.  DEPT.,  APPT.  OFFICE,  Dec.  20,  1860. 

"DEAR  SIR, — Yours  of  the  18th  inst.  is  received.  I  have  not  had 
time  to  read  the  proceedings  or  address  of  the  solid  men  of  Boston,  but 
have  heard  it  spoken  of  with  great  satisfaction. 


36  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

"  I  think  the  disunionists  are  not  having  everything  quite  so  much 
their  own  way  as  at  first.  The  true  friends  of  the  country  are  beginning 
more  generally  to  denounce  the  disunion  Constitution,  and  to  protest 
against  disunionists  being  retained  in  office. 

"  To  show  you  how  I  feel,  I  inclose  the  copy  of  a  letter  which  I  had 
nearly  finished  and  intended  to  send  to  General  Cass  when  I  heard  of  his 
resignation,  so  I  addressed  it  to  Judge  Black.  It  is  for  the  private  eye  of 
friends  only,  of  course. 

"  Very  truly, 

"HORATIO  KING. 

"NAHUM  CAPEN,  ESQ." 

"  (CONFIDENTIAL.) 

"P.O.  DEPT.,  Dec.  28,  1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  feel  as  though  we  were  on  the  verge  of  civil  war, 
and  I  should  not  be  surprised  if  this  city  is  under  the  military  control  of 
the  disunionists  in  less  than  one  month !  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  Cabinet  is  divided,  and  rumor  has  it  that  the  sympathies  of  the 
President,  as  well  as  of  Mr.  Toucey,  are  with  the  disunionists  in  reference 
to  the  question  of  sustaining  Major  Anderson  !  Holt,  Black,  and  Stanton 
are  firm  for  the  Union,  there  can  be  no  doubt. 

"  Is  there  no  way  to  bring  a  healthful  influence  to  bear  on  the  Presi 
dent  and  Governor  Toucey  ?  Northern  men  all  seem  to  be  dumb  and 
paralyzed ! 

"  In  haste,  yours  truly, 

"HORATIO  KING. 
"  NAHUM  CAPEN,  ESQ." 

"  (PRIVATE.) 

"  NEW  YORK,  29  Dec.,  1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — Yours  is  received.  I  see  fully,  without  any  power 
to  prevent  it,  the  danger  in  which  the  country  is  placed.  I  have  had 
little  faith  in  the  conciliatory  action  of  the  Republicans  in  Congress, 
though  I  know  there  are  some  who  think  rightly.  It  was  for  this 
reason  that  I  moved,  in  conjunction  with  others  here,  in  favor  of  a 
strong  appeal  to  our  Southern  friends  in  the  States  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
and  the  lower  Mississippi  to  await  the  issue  of  the  change  which  is 
going  on  in  public  opinion  in  the  North.  Our  appeal  is  to  go  to  the 
Southern  conventions  about  to  assemble  in  Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Mis 
sissippi.  There  seems  but  little  prospect  that  any  good  will  be  accom 
plished.  At  Washington  I  fear  I  can  do  nothing.  I  have  written  to 
several  leading  Southern  men,  but  I  get  no  response.  There  is  a  deter 
mination  on  the  part  of  leading  Republicans  here  that  a  conciliatory 


ELECTION  OF  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN.  37 

course  shall  be  pursued,  and  that  reasonable  compromises  shall  be  made. 
It  remains  to  be  seen  whether  they  can  influence  the  action  of  their 
friends  in  Congress. 

"  Major  Anderson,  who  was  my  lieutenant  when  I  was  a  captain  in  the  , 
army,  I  have  no  doubt  acted  as  any  military  man  responsible  for  the 
lives  of  those  under  his  command  would  have  done.     His  conduct  is 
approved  here  by  all  parties,  even  by  the  warmest  advocates  of  Southern 
rights. 

"  My  great  fear  is  that  the  masses,  North  and  South,  who  hay©  been 
indoctrinated  into  secession  views  on  the  one  hand,  and  abolitionism  on 
the  other,  will  not  follow  their  leaders  in  a  retrograde  movement.  But  I 
have  less  anxiety  for  the  North  than  for  the  South.  We  can  make  things 
right  here  if  we  can  have  time.  .  .  . 

"  I  am,  dear  sir, 

"  Yours  truly, 

"  HON.  HORATIO  KING."  "  JoHN  A'  Dix* 

"  WASHINGTON,  Dec.  30,  1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  rejoice  to  learn  that  the  disunionists  failed  yester 
day  in  their  impudent  and  insulting  demand  that  the  administration 
should  remove  Major  Anderson  or  otherwise  degrade  him. 

"  It  is  every  day  becoming  more  and  more  apparent  that  they  are 
determined,  as  far  as  lies  in  their  power,  to  make  use  of  the  administra 
tion  to  strengthen  themselves  in  their  rebellious  position,  and,  if  neces 
sary  for  their  purpose,  to  break  up  the  Government.  Does  it  require  any 
close  discernment  to  see  that  it  would  be  fatal  to  follow  their  counsels  ? 

"  They  commenced,  long  before  the  election,  by  getting  possession  of 
the  Constitution  newspaper,  which,  from  the  announcement  of  Lincoln's 
election,  has  been  openly  for  a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  and  some  of 
them  have  continued,  and  still  continue,  to  hold  office  here  in  the  Gov 
ernment,  although  known  to  be  hostile  to  that  very  Government  which 
feeds  them ! 

"  In  a  letter  to  the  President  on  the  7th  of  November,— the  day  after 
election,— I  called  attention  to  these  startling  facts  ;  and,  from  that  day 
to  the  present,  my  amazement  has  increased  until  I  am,  at  times,  almost 
paralyzed  to  see  such  things  go  un  rebuked.  It  is  all  folly  for  the  editor 
of  that  paper  to  issue  his  pronunciamentoes  that  he  alone  is  responsible 
.  .  .  so  long  as  it  is  supported  and  kept  alive  by  Government  advertisements 
which  it  receives  solely  through  the  favor  of  the  administration,  for  it  is  not 
entitled  to  them  by  law.  Has  not  this  fact  been  overlooked  in  the  pressure 
of  the  great  troubles  now  threatening  our  destruction  ? 

"  The  question  now  is  union  or  disunion.  An  article  in  that  paper  to 
day  advises  that  Lincoln's  inauguration  be  prevented  by  armed  force ! 


38  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

Can  the  Government  give  such  a  paper  patronage  and  escape  the  charge 
of  treason  ?  We  must  now  take  sides  either  for  or  against  the  continu 
ance  of  the  Union ;  and  the  sooner  we  know  where  we  stand  the  better. 

"  I  wrote  you  yesterday  hastily  what  I  regard  as  the  clear  duty  of  the 
Government  in  reference  to  Major  Anderson,  and  I  am  confirmed  in  my 
opinions  by  everybody  to  whom  I  have  spoken  since,  as  well  as  by  the 
press,  several  extracts  of  which  I  beg  to  inclose  for  your  perusal. 

"  The  duty  of  the  administration,  it  seems  to  me,  is  very  plain.  It  is 
simply  to  see  that  the  laws  are  executed,  thus  maintaining,  with  a  firm 
hand,  the  integrity  of  the  Union.  In  this,  rest  assured,  every  friend  of 
the  Union  will  sustain  you. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be 

"  Very  truly  your  friend, 

"  HORATIO  KING. 

"  HON.  I.  TOUCEY  Sec'y  Navy." 

"  (PRIVATE.) 

"P.  O.  DEPT.,  APPT.  OFFICE,  Dec.  31,  1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  am  rejoiced  to  hear  you  express  yourself  as  you 
do  in  regard  to  sustaining  Major  Anderson.  But  I  greatly  fear  the 
Cabinet  now  in  session  may  take  some  action  against  him,  although  if  he 
is  not  sustained,  you  may  expect  to  see  the  resignations  of  Black,  Holt, 
and  Stanton.  The  most  intense  excitement  is  felt  here  on  the  subject, 
and  disunion  men  are  raising  heaven  and  earth  to  get  the  President  to 
degrade  Major  Anderson.  To-day  we  have  a  most  unpleasant  rumor 
that  Floyd  is  to  go  back  into  the  Cabinet.  If  this  rumor  is  true,  all  is 
lost!  It  is  known  that  he  sent  a  most  savage  message  of  inquiry  to 
Major  Anderson ;  but  the  answer  he  got  in  return  had  the  true  ring  to  it 
of  the  Veni,  vidi,  vici  stamp. 

"  It  is  said  there  is  a  secret  society  forming  here  to  prevent  Lincoln's 
inauguration ! 

"  Very  truly, 

"  HORATIO  KING. 
"  HON.  JOHN  A.  Dix,  New  York." 

"  (PRIVATE.) 

"  P.  O.  DEPT.,  APPT.  OFFICE,  Dec.  31, 1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — In  answer  to  your  note  of  the  29th  inst.,  I  am  sorry 
to  say  that  I  cannot  give  any  assurance  that  the  '  Jackson  policy'  in  the 
present  crisis  will  be  pursued.  Up  to  this  time  (12  M.),  however,  I 
believe  no  order  has  been  made  against  Major  Anderson,  except  that  the 
Secretary  of  War  (since  resigned,  thank  God !)  sent  him  a  savage  despatch, 
inquiring  why  he  removed  his  command.  But  this  was  not  sustained  by 


ELECTION  OF  ABKAHAM  LINCOLN.  39 

the  majority  of  the  Cabinet,  and  he  got  a  regular  soldier's  answer  back, 
full  of  true  metal.  The  Cabinet  i*  now  in  session  on  this  subject,  and 
the  most  intense  interest  is  felt  here  for  fear  that  Major  Anderson  will 
not  be  sustained. 

"  The  President  is  borne  down  by  the  disunionists,  and,  as  well  as 
Governor  Toucey,  needs  support  from  all  true  friends  of  the  Union. 
Pray,  see  that  letters  are  poured  in  upon  them.  On  Saturday,  however, 
Governor  Toucey  was  right,  and  I  cannot  think  it  possible  that  he  will 
flinch.  General  Scott,  I  fear,  does  not  have  the  influence  he  should  in 
the  counsel  touching  his  command.  .  .  . 

"  Very  respect'ly  and  truly, 

"  HORATIO  KING. 

"  NAHUM  CAPEN,  ESQ.,  Boston,  Mass." 

"  BINGHAMTON,  Dec.  31,  1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, —  ...  I  am  filled  with  anxious  solicitude  for  the  fate 
of  our  country.  May  God  avert  the  threatened  evil ! 

"  Sincerely  yours, 

"  HON.  H.  KING,  1st  Asst.  P.  M.  Gen1!."  "  D'  S>  DlCKINSON- 

"  (CONFIDENTIAL.) 

"P.  O.  DEPT.,  APPT.  OFFICE,  Jan.  3, 1861. 

"  MY  DEAR  GENERAL, —  .  .  .  Things  are  being  brought  to  a  point 
here,  I  think.  I  understand  the  *  Commissioners'  (from  South  Carolina) 
sent  an  insulting  communication  to  the  President,  and  that  he  sent  it 
back  to  them.  We  shall  soon  know  who  is  for  and  who  against  the 
Union.  At  present  we  know  not  whom  to  trust. 

"  Very  truly, 

"HORATIO  KING. 
"  GEN.  Dix,  New  York. 

"  P.  S. — That  was  most  infamous  business  of  Floyd  at  Pittsburgh. 
One  of  the  '  forts'  for  which  guns  were  intended  is  a  bare  sand-bar,  and 
the  other  has  been  just  commenced,  having  a  wall  about  two  or  three 
feet  high.  He  and  Cobb  are  both  traitors.  Floyd's  orders  will  be 
countermanded." 

"  (PRIVATE.) 

"NEW  YORK,  Jan.  3,  1861. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  have  been  so  pressed  with  outside  business  during 
the  last  ten  days  (trying  to  save  the  Union)  that  I  have  been  unable  to 
write  to  you. 

"  The  first  time  we  began  to  breathe  freely  was  when  Mr.  Holt  took 
Governor  Floyd's  place  in  the  War  Department.  The  feeling  here  is 


40  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

strong  and  undivided  in  regard  to  sustaining  the  administration  in  its 
determination  to  stand  by  Major  Anderson,  to  protect  the  public  property, 
and  to  enforce  the  revenue  laws.  On  these  points  the  people  of  the 
Northern  States  are  as  one  man ;  and  I  am  satisfied  the  President  will 
have  with  him  the  conservative  men  of  all  sections  of  the  country. 

"  I  have  been  very  busy  corresponding  with  prominent  men  in  and 
out  of  Congress.  We  must  preserve  the  Union.  Congress  should  do 
what  is  right,  and  the  rest  will  be  easy.  Why  cannot  enabling  acts  be 
passed  admitting  Kansas  and  New  Mexico,  and  like  enabling  acts  dividing 
the  residue  of  our  territory  by  36°  SO',  and  admitting  two  more  States, 
at  once,  with  no  other  restriction  than  that  of  '  a  republican  form  of 
government,'  which  Congress  under  the  Constitution  is  bound  to  guar 
anty  ?  This  will  dispose  of  the  whole  territorial  question ;  and  all  may 
support  it  without  surrender  of  principle.  What  if  New  Mexico  has  a 
very  small  population  ?  This  fact  should  weigh  nothing  against  restora 
tion  of  harmony  and  preservation  of  the  Union. 

"  Do  not  things  look  better  ?    Let  me  hear  from  you. 

"  Yours  very  truly, 

"JOHN  A.  Dix. 

"  HON.  HOEATIO  KING." 

"  (PRIVATE.) 

"  P.  O.  DEPT.,  Jan.  4,  1861. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  am  obliged  for  your  favor  of  yesterday.  I  feel  as 
though  there  is  a  slight  improvement  in  the  state  of  things  here ;  but  the 
disunionists — conspirators — are  doing  their  utmost  to  head  off  the  Gov 
ernment  in  its  present  efforts  to  right  itself.  Things  will  not  go  entirely 
satisfactory  so  long  as  Thompson  and  Thomas  are  retained  in  the  Cabinet, 
and  especially  the  latter,  who,  I  am  disappointed  to  learn,  is  a  rabid  seces 
sionist.  I  am  glad  to  hear  that  there  is  a  committee  here  from  your  city 
to  make  a  representation  to  the  President  in  regard  to  him.  For  Thomp 
son  I  have  more  compassion.  He  is  not  willingly  a  disunionist ;  and  I 
guess  he  sustained  the  President  in  sending  back  their  insulting  commu 
nication  to  the  S.  C.  '  Commissioners.' 

"  Let  us  press  forward  till  we  clear  the  Government  of  every  disunionist. 
"  Very  respectfully  and  truly, 

"  HORATIO  KING. 
"  GEN.  Dix,  New  York." 

"  (PRIVATE.) 

"NEW  YORK,  Jan.  5,  1861. 

"My  DEAR  SIR, — Facts  that  have  come  to  my  knowledge  give  me 
strong  hopes  that  the  Union  will  be  preserved.  I  look  for  a  speedy 


ELECTION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  41 

movement  on  the  part  of  the  Republicans  in  Congress,  and  an  effective 
one. 

"  In  the  mean  time  the  authority  of  the  Government  must  be  main 
tained.  I  have  written  to  several  members  of  Congress,  among  others 
Governor  Seward,  urging  the  adoption  of  the  plan  I  suggested  to  you 
yesterday,  as  one  involving  no  sacrifice  of  principle  or  surrender  of 
position.  We  can  do  nothing  unless  the  Republicans  act  with  us,  and  I 
have  for  the  last  week  been  pressing  them  here  and  in  Congress. 

"  Yours  sincerely, 

"  JOHN  A.  Dix. 

"  HON.  HORATIO  KING." 

"  P.  O.  DEPT.,  Jan'y  7, 1861. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  have  yours  of  the  5th,  and  am  glad  to  see  that 
you  are  laboring  in  the  right  direction.  The  Republicans  must  yield,  or 
all  is  lost. 

"  But  the  South  must  be  reasonable.  .  .  .  Many  good  Union  men  are 
disgusted  with  their  arrogance. 

"  Very  resp'ly  and  truly, 

"HORATIO  KING. 
"  HON.  JOHN  A.  Dix." 

"  (CONFIDENTIAL.) 

"  NEW  YORK,  Jan.  8,  1861. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — Why  is  money  to  very  large  amounts  being  trans 
ferred  to  Washington  ?  It  may  be  all  right,  but  it  is  unusual.  Nearly 
a  million  of  dollars  has  been  sent  on  in  specie  within  the  last  week.  I 
write  you  in  confidence.  Are  these  transfers  made  by  order  of  the 
President?  Is  he  aware  of  them?  These  questions  have  suggested 
themselves  to  me.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  uneasiness  in  regard  to  the 
Treasury  Department.  The  Secretary  and  his  assistant  are  known  to  be 
secessionists,  and  our  capitalists,  who  furnish  the  Government  with 
money,  naturally  feel  a  solicitude  in  regard  to  the  disposition  made  of  it. 
The  transfers  in  specie  have  attracted  attention  and  produced  a  good 
deal  of  unpleasant  speculation.  The  Assistant  Treasury  Office  is  in 
Wall  Street,  and  any  considerable  quantity  of  gold  cannot  be  moved 
without  being  known.  I  met,  a  few  days  ago,  a  large  number  of  boxes 
going  out,  and  on  inquiry  I  found  $400,000  were  going  to  Washington. 

"  In  haste,  very  truly  yours, 

"  JOHN  A.  Dix. 
"  HON.  HORATIO  KING." 

"P.  O.  DEPART.,  Jan'y  12,  1861. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — Yours  of  the  8th  came  duly  to  hand.  I  am  glad  to 
know  that  you  have  been  active  in  your  efforts  to  head  off  the  conspira- 


42  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

tors  here.  We  are  progressing  slowly,  but  surely,  as  I  trust.  The 
appointment  of  General  Dix  to  the  Treasury,  and  the  discarding  of  the 
Constitution  (newspaper)  in  the  last  two  days,  are  two  things  most  grati 
fying.  What  is  doing  now,  however,  should  have  been  done  two  months 
ago,  as  you  know  I  have  been  decided  upon  from  the  start. 

"  Who  will  be  nominated  for  Secretary  of  War  and  Secretary  of  Inte 
rior  remains  to  be  seen.  You  will  have  seen  Slidell's  attack  on  Mr. 
Holt.  Nevertheless,  I  believe  if  his  name  is  sent  in  they  will  not  be 
able  to  reject  him.  One  thing  I  hope  there  will  be  no  mistake  about, 
and  that  is,  that  none  but  Union  men  will  be  allowed  to  go  into  the 
Cabinet,  even  if  they  have  all  to  be  taken  from  the  North. 

"  Matters  at  Charleston  are  bad  enough ;  but  it  is  gratifying  to  know 
that  Major  Anderson  will  not  need  any  assistance,  probably,  for  four 
months  to  come.  This  was  not  known  to  the  Government  when  the  Star 
of  the  West  was  sent  for  his  relief. 

"  Very  truly, 

"HORATIO  KING. 

"NAHUM  CAPEN,  ESQ.,  P.  M.,  Boston,  Mass." 


"P.  O.  DEPT.,  Jan'y  21,  1861. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — Yours  of  the  19th  inst.  is  received. 
"  I  presume  I  shall  continue  to  act  as  P.  M.  G.,  as  I  have  been  doing 
since  the  1st  inst.     I  do  not  anticipate  that  any  appointment  will  be  sent 
to  the  Senate  at  least  for  the  present. 

"  I  cannot  see  that  there  is  much  if  any  improvement  in  the  state  of 
things.  Yet  if  the  Republicans  would  only  present  some  reasonable 
proposition,  and  vote  upon  it  with  anything  like  unanimity  to  show  that 
they  were  willing  to  do  something,  it  would  at  once  take  the  wind  out  of 
the  sails  of  secession  in  all  the  border  States,  and  this  would  dampen  the 
ardor  of  the  rebels  .  .  .  further  South. 

"  Very  resp'ly  and  truly  yours, 

"HORATIO  KING. 
"  NAHUM  CAPEN,  ESQ.,  P.  M.,  Boston,  Mass." 


"  P.  O.  DEPT,,  March  5,  1861. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  have  only  time  in  this,  doubtless  my  last  com 
munication  from  the  '  P.  O.  Department/  to  thank  you  for  your  kind 
letter  of  the  2d  inst.,  and,  in  reply  to  your  question,  to  say  that  I  fear 
the  proceedings  of  the  Peace  Convention  will  result  in  little,  if  any, 
good ;  yet  it  is  quite  possible  that  they  may  be  of  use  at  an  early  day 
before  a  called  session  of  Congress.  The  aspect  of  affairs  is  gloomy,  and 


ELECTION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  43 

it  will  not  surprise  me  if  we  are  engaged  in  a  civil  war  before  the  end 
of  this  month,  unless  all  the  forts  in  the  seceding  States  are  peaceably 
given  to  the  revolutionists. 

"  Very  sincerely  your  friend, 

"  HORATIO  KING. 
"  NAHUM  CAPEX,  ESQ.,  P.  M.,  Boston,  Mass." 

On  the  appointment  of  General  Dix  to  the  Treasury,  Jan 
uary  11,  1861,  our  correspondence,  of  course,  ceased.  As 
the  more  important  of  his  letters  were  read  by  Postmaster- 
General  Holt,  who  in  turn  showed  them  to  the  President,  I 
have  always  thought  they  led  the  way  to  that  appointment. 
Eminent  as  a  patriotic  statesman,  his  selection  for  the  posi 
tion  was  hailed  with  marked  satisfaction,  and  he  filled  it 
with  distinguished  ability.  With  none  but  kindly  senti 
ments  towards  the  South,  he  at  the  same  time  held  it  to  be 
the  imperative  duty  of  the  Government  to  "  quietly  and 
firmly  maintain  the  central  authority."  This,  it  may  as 
well  be  said  here,  is  what  President  Buchanan  endeavored 
to  the  utmost  of  his  power  to  do,  while  at  the  same  time 
he  deemed  it  prudent,  in  the  cause  of  peace  and  to  avoid 
bloodshed,  to  pursue  a  conciliatory  policy  towards  the 
South.  It  was  this  forbearance  that  for  a  time  led  even 
some  of  his  best  friends  to  harbor  slight  misgivings  in 
respect  to  him  as  well  as  Secretary  Toucey;  and  to  this 
day  we  sometimes  hear  him  censured  because  he  did  not 
at  once  come  down  on  the  secessionists  as  General  Jackson 
did  on  the  nullifiers  of  South  Carolina  in  1832.  These 
critics  seem  to  forget  that,  whereas  President  Jackson  had 
but  a  solitary  little  State  to  deal  with,  in  President  Bu 
chanan's  case  all  the  Cotton  States  were  united  in  the 
rebellion,  and  only  anxious  for  the  Government  to  strike 
the  first  blow,  as  in  their  view  the  surest  and  most  speedy 
means  of  inducing  all  the  border  States  to  join  them.  Mr. 
Buchanan  fully  understood  this ;  hence  his  extreme  caution, 
with  which  it  must,  however,  be  admitted,  some  of  his 
nearest  friends  did  not  always  sympathize,  although  it  is 


44  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

now  far  from  certain  that  his  was  not  the  wiser  course. 
Said  Joseph  Holt,  in  1865  : 

"  Looking  at  the  glorious  results  of  the  war,  and  remembering  how  won- 
drously  Providence  has  dealt  with  us  in  its  progress,  and  how  sublimely 
the  firing  upon  instead  of  from  Fort  Sumter  seemed  to  arouse,  instruct, 
and  unite  the  nation,  and  to  inflame  its  martial  and  patriotic  spirit,  we 
stand  awe-struck  and  mute ;  and  that  man  would  be  bold,  indeed,  who, 
in  the  presence  of  all  that  has  occurred,  should  now  venture  to  main 
tain  that  the  policy  of  forbearance  was  not  at  the  moment  the  true 
policy." 

It  is  well  known,  and  should  be  borne  in  mind  when  Mr. 
Buchanan's  policy  of  forbearance  is  assailed,  that,  for  sev 
eral  weeks  after  his  inauguration,  President  Lincoln  still 
"  hoping  [we  have  the  testimony  of  Gideon  Welles,  his  Sec 
retary  of  the  Navy]  for  a  peaceful  solution  of  the  pending 
questions,"  the  greatest  forbearance  was  observed,  and  "  a 
calm  and  conciliatory  policy''  pursued  toward  the  South. 

President  Buchanan  stood  on  the  defensive,  and,  true  to 
his  oath,  strove  by  every  means  in  his  power  .to  protect  the 
rights  and  property  of  the  Government.  He  held  it  to  be 
his  duty  to  see  that  the  laws  were  obeyed  ;  but  this  was  im 
possible  where  the  local  authorities  were  all  in  rebellion, 
and  officers  could  not  be  found  to  enforce  the  execution  of 
the  laws.  For  instance,  there  was  no  collector  of  customs 
at  Charleston,  and  he  sent  to  the  Senate  the  name  of  a  gen 
tleman  to  fill  the  place ;  but  his  nomination  was  not  con 
firmed.  In  a  letter  to  me  of  September  18,  1861,  Mr. 
Buchanan  said,  "  Had  the  Senate  confirmed  my  nomination 
of  the  2d  of  January  of  a  collector  for  the  port  of  Charles 
ton,  the  war  would  probably  have  commenced  in  January 
instead  of  May." 

As  a  further  indication  of  his  true  sentiments,  and  as  due 
to  his  memory,  I  venture  to  infringe  the  salutary  rule 
(which  has  been  so  often  violated  since  Mr.  Buchanan's 
time  in  revealing  what  takes  place  in  Cabinet  session)  by 
relating  a  little  incident  that  happened  in  Cabinet  on  the 


PRESIDENT  BUCHANAN  TO  ROYAL  PHELPS,  ESQ.     45 

19th  of  February,  1861.     I  copy  from  my  diary  made  on 
that  day  : 

"  February  19.— In  Cabinet  to-day  the  principal  matter  presented  was 
an  inquiry  from  Major  Anderson,  in  charge  of  Fort  Sumter,  at  Charles 
ton,  what  he  should  do  in  the  event  of  the  floating  battery  understood  to 
have  been  constructed  at  Charleston  being  towed  toward  the  fort  with 
the  evident  purpose  of  attack.  The  President  wished  time  to  consider. 
Mr.  Holt  asked  what  he  would  do,  or  rather  what  Major  Anderson  ought 
to  do,  in  case  he  were  in  charge  of  a  fort  and  the  enemy  should  commence 
undermining  it.  The  President  answered  that  he  should  '  crack  away  at 
them.'  The  President,  however,  is  very  reluctant  to  fire  the  first  gun. 
The  Peace  Convention,  he  said,  was  now  in  session  in  this  city,  and  its 
president,  ex-President  Tyler,  had  this  morning  assured  him  that  no 
attack  would  be  made  on  the  fort.  The  President  expressed  the  opinion  % 
that  the  fort  would  eventually  be  taken." 

"  WASHINGTON,  May  13,  1861. 

"  DEAR  SIR, — Your  letter  of  the  llth  inst.  is  received.  Troops  con 
tinue  to  arrive,  but  what  the  end  is  to  be,  who  can  tell  ?  It  seems  to  me 
the  South  has  everything  to  lose  and  nothing  to  gain. 

"  Truly  yours, 

"  HORATIO  KING. 
"  NAHUM  CAPEN,  ESQ.,  Boston,  Mass." 


CHAPTER  II. 

PRESIDENT   BUCHANAN   TO    ROYAL   PHELPS,   ESQ. 

THE  following  letter  came  into  my  hands  through  the 
favor  of  the  late  George  Bancroft,  who  received  it  from 
Mr.  Phelps  some  time  before  his  death.  I  am  left  free  to 
publish  it,  hut  the  responsibility  is  my  own.  The  letter 
bears  date  December  22,  1860,  two  days  after  the  secession 
of  SiOJith  Carolina.  At  that  time  there  was  some  hope  that 
Congress  might  agree  to  the  Crittenden  Compromise.  An 
act  of  Congress  of  17th  December  had  authorized  the  issue 

o 

of  treasury  notes ;  the  advertisement  inviting  bids  for  them 


46  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

was  then  out,  and  New  York  was  looked  to  for  the  bulk  of 
subscriptions  to  the  loan.  Thus  we  may  behold  the  key  to  the 
letter.  It  is  evident  from  Mr.  Buchanan's  appeal  to  his 
personal  and  political  friend  that  he  wished  to  convince  him 
that  it  would  be  for  the  interest  of  New  York  to  take  the 
loan.  Deeply  regretting  the  attempted  secession  of  the 
cotton  States  as  Mr.  Buchanan  did,  this  and  other  docu 
ments  show  that  he  never  had  the  slightest  inclination  to 
part  with  them. 

(PRIVATE.) 

WASHINGTON,  22d  December,  1860. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  have  received  your  favor  of  the  20th 
inst.,  and  rejoice  to  learn  the  change  of  public  sentiment 
in  your  city.  Still  secession  is  far  in  advance  of  reaction, 
and  several  of  the  cotton  States  will  be  out  of  the  Union 
before  anything  can  be  done  to  check  their  career.  I  think 
they  are  all  wrong  in  their  precipitation,  but  such  I  believe 
to  be  the  fact. 

It  is  now  no  time  for  resolutions  of  kindness  from  the 
North  to  the  South.  There  must  be  some  tangible  point 
presented,  and  this  has  been  done  by  Mr.  Crittenden  in  his 
Missouri  Compromise  resolutions.  Without  pretending  to 
speak  from  authority,  I  believe  these  would  be  accepted 
though  not  preferred  by  the  South.  I  have  no  reason 
to  believe  that  this  is  at  present  acceptable  to  the  Northern 
senators  and  representatives,  though  the  tendency  is  in  that 
direction.  They  may  arrive  at  this  point  when  it  will  be 
too  late. 

I  cannot  imagine  that  any  adequate  cause  exists  for  the 
extent  and  violence  of  the  existing  panic  in  New  York. 
Suppose,  most  unfortunately,  that  the  cotton  States  should 
withdraw  from  the  Union,  New  York  would  still  be  the 
great  city  of  this  continent.  We  shall  still  have  within  the 
borders  of  the  remaining  States  all  the  elements  of  wealth 
and  prosperity.  New  York  would  doubtless  be  somewhat 


PRESIDENT  BUCHANAN  TO  ROYAL  PHELPS,  ESQ.     47 

retarded  in  her  rapid  march ;  but,  possessing  the  necessary 
capital,  energy,  and  enterprise,  she  will  always  command  a 
very  large  portion  of  the  carrying  trade  of  the  very  States 
which  may  secede.  Trade  cannot  easily  be  drawn  from  its 
accustomed  channels.  I  would  sacrifice  my  own  life  at  any 
moment  to  save  the  Union piF" such  were  the  will  of  God; 
but  this  great  and  enterprising  brave  nation  is  not  to  be 
destroyed  by  losing  the  cotton  States,  even  if  this  loss  were 
irreparable,  which  I  do  not  believe  unless  from  some  un 
happy  accident. 

I  have  just  received  an  abstract  from  the  late  census. 

In  the  apportionment  of  representatives  the  State  of  New 
York  will  have  as  many  in  the  House  (30)  as  Georgia, 
Florida,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Texas,  and  South 
Carolina  united.  The  latter  State  contains  296,422  free 
people  and  408,905  slaves,  and  will  be  entitled  in  the  next 
Congress  to  4  representatives  out  of  233. 

Why  will  not  the  great  merchants  of  New  York  examine 
the  subject  closely  and  ascertain  what  will  be  the  extent  of 
their  injuries  and  accommodate  themselves  to  the  changed 
state  of  things  ? 

If  they  will  do  this,  they  will  probably  discover  they  are 
more  frightened  than  hurt.  I  hope,  the  Treasury  Note  Loan 
may  be  taken  at  a  reasonable  rate  of  interest.  No  security 
can  be  better,  in  any  event,  whether  the  Cotton  States  secede 
or  not.  Panic  in  New  York  may,  however,  prevent,  because 
panic  has  even  gone  to  the  extent  of  recommending  that 
the  great  city  of  New  York  shall  withdraw  herself  from 
the  support  of  at  least  twenty-five  millions  of  people  and 
become  a  free  city. 

I  had  half  an  hour,  and  have  scribbled  this  off  in  haste 
for  your  private  use. 

Your  friend, 

Very  respectfully, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

EOYAL  PHELPS,  ESQ. 


48  TUENING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

CHAPTER    III. 

OFFICIAL    CORRESPONDENCE. 

Honorable  John  D.  Ashmore,  Member  of  Congress  from  South  Carolina, 
asks  if  he  has  the  Bight  to  the  Franking  Privilege,  now  that  South 
Carolina  has  passed  an  Ordinance  of  Secession — A  Pointed  Answer. 

ANDERSON,  S.  C.,  Jan.  24,  1861. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  have  in  my  possession  some  one  thou 
sand  to  twelve  hundred  volumes  of  u  public  "documents," 
being  my  proportion  of  the  same  as  a  member  of  the  thirty- 
sixth  Congress.  They  were  forwarded  me  in  mail-sacks  and 
are  now  lying  in  my  library.  Since  the  date  of  the  ordi 
nance  of  secession  (December  20, 1860)  of  South  Carolina  I 
have  not  used  the  franking  privilege,  nor  will  I  attempt  to 
do  so  without  the  special  permission  of  the  Department. 
To  pay  the  postage  on  these  books,  etc.,  would  cost  me  a 
large  sum,  and  one  I  am  not  prepared  to  expend.  The 
books  are  of  no  use  to  me,  but  might  be  to  my  constitu 
ents,  for  whom  they  were  intended,  if  distributed  among 
them.  Have  I  the  right  to  frank  and  distribute  them  under 
existing  relations  ?  If  so,  please  inform  me.  Having  said 
that  I  have  not  used  the  franking  privilege  since  the  20th 
December,  I  need  hardly  add  that  I  shall  not  do  so,  even  on 
a  "  public  document,"  unless  you  authorize  it. 
I  am,  with  great  respect, 

Truly  and  sincerely  yours, 

J.  D.  ASHMORE. 
HON.  HORATIO  KING, 

Acting  Postmaster-General. 

POST-OFFICE  DEPARTMENT,  January  28,  1861. 
SIR, — In  answer  to  your  letter  of  the  24th  instant,  ask 
ing  if  you  have  the  right,  "  under  existing  relations,"  to 
frank  and  distribute  certain  public  documents,  I  have  the 


A  FRANK  ANSWER.  49 

honor  to  state  that  the  theory  of  the  administration  is  that 
the  relations  of  South  Carolina  to  the  general  Govern 
ment  have  been  in  nothing  changed  by  her  recent  act  of 
secession ;  and  this  being  so,  you  are  of  course  entitled  to 
the  franking  privilege  until  the  first  Monday  in  December 
next.  If,  however,  as  I  learn  is  the  case,  you  sincerely  and 
decidedly  entertain  the  conviction  that  by  that  act  South 
Carolina  ceased  to  be  a  member  of  the  confederacy,  and  is 
now  a  foreign  State,  it  will  be  for  you  to  determine  how 
far  you  can  conscientiously  avail  yourself  of  a  privilege  the 
exercise  of  which  assumes  that  your  own  conviction  is  erro 
neous,  and  plainly  declares  that  South  Carolina  is  still  in 
the  Union,  and  that  you  are  still  a  member  of  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States. 

I  am,  very  respectfully, 

your  obedient  servant, 

HORATIO  KING, 

Acting  P.  M.- General. 
HON.  JOHN  D.  ASHMORE, 

Anderson,  S.  C. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

A   FRANK   ANSWER. 

Hon.  A.  G.  Jenkins,1  Member  of  Congress  from  Virginia,  informed  why 
a  Route  Agent  in  his  District  was  removed. 

POST-OFFICE  DEPARTMENT,  February  22,  1861. 

DEAR  SIR, — Your  letter  of  the  20th  inst.  is  received,  re 
questing  "  distinct  and  specific  answers"  to  the  following 
interrogatories, — viz. : 

1.  What  are  the  grounds  of  the  removal  of  Thomas  J. 
West,  late  route  agent  on  the  line  from  Grafton  to  Parkers- 

1  Killed  at  the  head  of  Confederate  cavalry  in  Virginia  early  in  the  war. 

4 


50  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

burg,  Va.,  and  of  the  substitution  of  another  person  in  his 
place  ? 

2.  Why  is  it  that  these  proceedings  have  been  carried 
out  on  my  part  without  affording  you  any  information  of 
my  contemplated  action  ? 

3.  Upon  whose  suggestion  was  I  led  to  remove  Mr.  West, 
and  by  whose  recommendations  was  I  induced  to  appoint 
his  successor  ? 

4.  And,  finally,  whether  the  same  policy  of  secretly  de 
capitating  your  friends  is  to  be  acted  upon  hereafter  as  the 
settled  rule  of  the  Department  ? 

These  are  plain  'questions,  stated  nearly  in  your  own 
language,  and,  in  view  of  the  custom  which  for  a  number 
of  years  has  prevailed  in  the  Department,  of  consulting 
members  of  Congress  in  regard  to  appointments  and  re 
movals  in  their  respective  districts,  it  is  not  unnatural  and 
perhaps  not  unreasonable  that  you  should  ask  them.  But 
you  will  excuse  me  for  remarking,  in  all  kindness,  that,  in 
the  first  place,  it  is  contrary  to  the  rule  of  the  Department 
to  communicate  written  answers  to  such  inquiries;  and, 
secondly,  that  the  right  which  you  seem  to  claim,  of  con 
trolling  the  appointments  in  your  district,  has  no  existence 
in  fact.  Excepting  the  comparatively  fewT  cases  in  which 
the  law  imposes  this  duty  on  the  President  and  Senate,  the 
power  of  appointing  the  officers  of  this  Department  rests 
exclusively  with  the  Postmaster-General,  who  alone  is  re 
sponsible  for  its  proper  exercise.  By  courtesy,  the  member, 
when  agreeing  politically  with  the  administration,  is  very 
generally  consulted  with  respect  to  appointments  in  his  dis 
trict  ;  but  his  advice  is  by  no  means  considered  as  binding 
on  the  Department,  nor  is  the  Postmaster-General  pre 
cluded,  even  by  courtesy,  from  making  removals  or  ap 
pointments  on  satisfactory  information,  as  in  the  present 
instance,  exclusively  from  other  reliable  sources.  When 
the  member  is  politically  opposed  to  the  administration,  it 
is  not  usual  to  consult  him. 


A  FEANK  ANSWER.  51 

Here  I  might  close  ;  but,  since  you  have  asked  these 
questions,  evidently  under  the  honest  impression  that  it  is 
my  duty  to  answer  them,  I  will  disregard  the  rule  so  far  as 
to  reply  to  the  first,  second,  and  fourth,  simply  stating, 
with  reference  to  the  third,  that  I  respectfully  decline  giving 
the  names  of  the  parties  by  whose  suggestions  and  recom 
mendations  I  have  been  guided  in  making  the  change. 

To  the  first,  then,  I  have  to  inform  you  that  Mr.  West 
was  removed  for  leaving  his  route  without  permission  from 
the  Department,  and  actively  engaging  in  a  movement  the 
avowed  object  of  which  is  to  induce  the  withdrawal  of  Vir 
ginia  from  the  Union.  In  other  words,  he  was  discharged 
for  undertaking  to  destroy  the  Government  from  whose 
treasury  he  was  drawing  the  means  of  daily  subsistence  and 
whose  Constitution  he  had  solemnly  sworn  to  support. 

Your  second  and  fourth  interrogatories  maybe  answered 
together.  I  did  not  advise  with  you  because  I  had  good 
reason  to  believe  that  you  were  yourself,  honestly,  I  doubt 
not,  fully  committed  to  the  secession  interest  in  your  State. 
As  to  the  policy  to  be  pursued  in  the  future  towards  your 
friends  in  office,  I  can  speak  only  of  what  may  be  done  in 
the  few  remaining  days  of  this  administration  ;  and  I  hesi 
tate  not  to  assure  you  that  if,  during  this  short  time,  any 
other  cases  like  the  present  come  before  me,  I  shall  esteem 
it  my  imperative  duty  to  pursue  the  course  adopted  in  this 
instance. 

This  being  not  strictly  an  official  letter,  I  may  be  par 
doned  for  adding  that  I  am  for  the  Union  without  reserva 
tion,  equally  against  disunionists  at  the  South  and  aboli 
tionists  at  the  North,  and  for  the  just  rights  of  all  sections 
in  the  Union. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be, 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

HORATIO  KING. 

HON.  A.  G.  JENKINS, 

House  of  Representatives. 


52  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

CHAPTER    Y. 

THE    PEACE    CONVENTION. 

A  Little  Secret  History — Order  Calling  Out  the  Troops  on  February  22, 
1861 — Revoked — Then  Renewed. 

THE  strong  prejudice  which  existed  against  President 
Buchanan  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war,  and  not  yet 
entirely  dispelled  from  the  minds  of  many  of  his  political 
opponents,  may,  in  a  great  degree,  be  truly  ascribed  to  a 
misapprehension  of  his  real  motives  and  modes  of  action. 
As  a  case  in  point,  there  is  a  little  piece  of  secret  history 
which,  in  justice  to  his  memory,  ought  no  longer  to  be  kept 
concealed.  It  relates  to  a  private  letter  of  his  to  ex-Presi 
dent  Tyler  which  was  found  among  Mr.  Tyler's  papers  when 
his  house  was  entered  by  United  States  soldiers  during  the 
war.  It  was  written  when  the  Peace  Convention,  presided 
over  by  Mr.  Tyler,  was  in  session  in  Washington.  The 
warmest  relations  existed  between  him  and  President 
Buchanan,  and  great  hopes  were  based  on  the  action  of 
that  Convention.  As  a  matter  of  course,  the  President  was 
anxious  to  avoid  everything  which  might,  in.  the  remotest 
degree,  disturb  its  tranquillity,  and,  in  deference  to  Mr. 
Tyler's  judgment  and  wishes,  he  had  indicated  a  willingness 
to  dispense  with  the  usual  parade  of  United  States  troops 
on  the  occasion  of  the  celebration  of  Washington's  birth 
day,  the  22d  of  February.  Meantime,  as  a  matter  of 
routine,  the  Secretary  of  War,  Honorable  Joseph  Holt, 
had,  without,  of  course,  consulting  the  President,  given  the 
customary  order  calling  out  the  troops  on  that  day.  Meet 
ing  the  Secretary  late  on  the  evening  of  the  21st,  the  Presi 
dent,  having  committed  himself  to  Mr.  Tyler,  was  much 
concerned  to  learn  that  such  an  order  had  been  issued,  and 
that,  in  all  probability,  it  was  too  late,  as  it  proved,  to  pre- 


THE  PEACE  CONVENTION.  53 

vent  its  insertion  in  the  National  Intelligencer,  to  which  it  had 
in  the  regular  course  of  events  been  sent  for  promulgation. 
Greatly  fearing  from  Mr.  Tyler's  representations  that  the 
people  might  accept  the  display  as  a  menacing  demonstra 
tion,  especially  as  a  troop  of  Flying  Artillery  just  ordered 
from  the  West  for  the  protection  of  the  capital  was  to 
form  part  of  the  military  procession,  the  President  at  once 
directed  that  the  order  be  countermanded,  and  General 
Scott  was  so  informed  in  time  to  prevent  the  assembling  of 
the  United  States  troops  on  the  morning  of  the  22d.  All 
this,  however,  wras  unknown  to  the  people,  who  had  filled 
the  streets  and  avenues  in  expectation  of  witnessing  the 
grand  parade;  and  after  waiting  impatiently  an  hour  or 
more  for  the  appearance  of  the  United  States  troops,  only 
the  militia  of  the  District  having  come  out,  a  startling  rumor 
reached  the  ears  of  the  crowd  that  the  order  which  had 
appeared  in  the  Intelligencer  calling  out  the  troops  had  been 
countermanded;  thereupon  a  distinguished  friend  of  the 
President  (Daniel  E.  Sickles,  M.C.)  hastened  to  the  War 
Department,  where  he  found  the  President  and  the  Secretary 
of  War  together,  and  in  a  state  of  great  excitement  inquired 
if  the  rumor  was  correct.  Learning  that  it  was,  his  earnest 
protest  and  representations  made  so  deep  an  impression  on 
the  President  that  he  authorized  the  Secretary  of  War  to 
confer  immediately  with  General  Scott,  in  order  to  see,  late 
as  it  was,  if  the  original  order  could  not  be  carried  into 
effect.  This  was  done,  and,  although  General  Scott  said  the 
soldiers  had  been  dismissed  and  all  of  the  officers  had  doffed 
their  uniforms,  rendering  it  doubtful  whether  the  order  could 
be  obeyed,  nevertheless  he  would,  if  possible,  see  it  executed. 
Fortunately,  he  succeeded,  and  everything  passed  off  well. 
The  next  morning  the  Intelligencer  said : 

"  The  military  parade  was,  of  course,  the  chief  feature  of  the  day.  It 
might  be  said  the  double  military  parade,  for,  while  that  of  the  morning 
was  composed  of  the  militia  companies  only,  there  was  a  subsequent 
general  parade,  in  which  the  United  States  troops  formed  a  conspicuous 


54  TUENING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

part.  The  artillery  were  the  especial  mark  of  interest,  and  their  parade 
on  Pennsylvania  Avenue  dissipated  all  sense  of  fatigue  from  the  thou 
sands  who  had  been  abroad  from  almost  *  the  dawn  of  day.'  The  rapidity 
with  which  the  guns  and  magazines  were  manned  and  prepared  for  action 
was  startling  to  those  unaccustomed  to  artillery  practice.  While  they 
were  on  the  avenue  they  were  at  times  as  completely  enveloped  in  the 
dust  they  stirred  up  as  they  would  have  been  in  the  smoke  of  battle." 

Thus  we  have  briefly  the  main  circumstances  under  which 
the  following  letter  was  written,  on  account  of  which  letter 
President  Buchanan  has  been  severely  censured.  It  was  a 
simple  explanation  to  Mr.  Tyler  of  the  reasons  which  had 
led  him  to  permit  the  military  display,  that  under  the  pre 
vious  understanding  would  not  otherwise  have  taken  place. 

"  WASHINGTON,  February  22,  1861. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  find  it  impossible  to  prevent  two  or  three  com 
panies  of  the  Federal  troops  from  joining  in  the  procession  to-day  with 
the  volunteers  of  the  district  without  giving  serious  offence  to  the  tens  of 
thousands  of  people  who  have  assembled  to  witness  the  parade.  The  day 
is  the  anniversary  of  Washington's  birth, — a  festive  occasion  throughout 
the  land, — and  it  has  been  particularly  marked  by  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives.  These  troops  everywhere  else  join  such  processions  in  honor 
of  the  birthday  of  the  Father  of  his  Country,  and  it  would  be  hard  to 
assign  a  good  reason  why  they  should  be  excluded  from  this  privilege  in 
the  capital  founded  by  himself.  They  are  here  simply  as  a  posse  comitatus 
to  aid  the  civil  authorities  in  case  of  need.  Besides,  the  programme  was 
published  in  the  National  Intelligencer  of  this  morning  without  my  knowl 
edge,  the  War  Department  having  considered  the  celebration  of  this 
national  anniversary  by  the  military  arm  of  the  Government  as  a  matter 
of  course. 

"  From  your  friend,  very  respectfully, 

"JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

"MR.  TYLER." 

Happily,  as  already  observed,  the  celebration  was  a  suc 
cess  ;  and  what  was  especially  gratifying,  the  presence  and 
wonderful  manoeuvring  of  the  light  artillery  companies, 
not  forgetting  the  splendid  bearing  of  the  dragoons,  and 
the  dismounted  companies,  headed  by  Duane's  detachment 
of  sappers  and  miners,  had  the  effect  to  allay,  in  a  great 


BEAUEEGAKD'S  REMOVAL  FEOM  WEST  POINT.       55 

degree,  the  feeling  of  insecurity  which  for  some  time  had 
existed  to  an  alarming  extent,  not  only  in  Washington,  but 
throughout  the  country,  before  the  arrival  of  these  troops. 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  June,  1885. 

NOTE. — As  confirmatory  of  the  correctness  of  the  foregoing,  it  is 
deemed  proper  to  insert  the  following  statement : 

"  WASHINGTON,  June  26,  1885. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  am  greatly  indebted  to  you  for  the  number  of  the 
Magazine  of  History  containing  your  article  on  Mr.  Buchanan,  which 
was  received  this  morning.  I  read  the  article  carefully,  and  regard  it  as 
simply  perfect. 

"  Most  sincerely  yours, 

"J.  HOLT." 


CHAPTER    VI. 


Senator  Slidell's  Letter  of  January  27,  1861,  to  the  President,  asking  if 
this  was  done  with  his  approbation — The  President's  Polite  but 
Crushing  Reply. 

"WHEATLAND,  September  18,  1861. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  am  collecting  materials  for  history,  and  I  cannot 
find  a  note  from  Mr.  Slidell  to  myself  and  my  answer  relative  to  the  very 
proper  removal  of  Beauregard  from  West  Point.  I  think  I  must  have 
given  them  to  Mr.  Holt.  He  was  much  pleased  with  my  answer  at  the 
time.  If  they  are  in  his  possession  I  should  be  glad  if  you  would  procure 
me  copies.  They  are  very  brief.  The  ladies  of  Mr.  S.'s  family  never 
after  looked  near  the  White  House.  .  .  .  From  your  friend, 

"  Very  respectfully, 

"JAMES  BUCHANAN. 
"  HON.  HORATIO  KING." 

On  the  receipt  of  this  letter  I  immediately  applied  to  Mr. 
Holt,  in  the  hope  of  being  able  to  obtain  from  him  the  desired 
copies,  but  he  could  not  find  them  among  his  papers.  Some 
time  afterward  it  occurred  to  me  that  I  might  possibly  find 
them  in  the  War  Department,  and  I  remember  I  inquired 


56  TURNING   ON  THE  LIGHT. 

after  them  there  on  two  separate  occasions.  I  remember 
this  because  I  was  refused,  I  thought  very  unnecessarily,  the 
first  time,  by  Secretary  "W.  W.  Belknap,  who  not  only  de 
clined  to  search  for,  but  said  he  would  not  furnish  them  if 
on  file.  This  not  very  pleasant  recollection  was  strength 
ened  by  a  very  polite  note  now  before  me,  under  date  of 
May  6, 1878,  from  Secretary  George  W.  McCrary,  informing 
me  "  that  a  careful  search  of  the  records  of  the  department 
fails  to  show  such  correspondence."  Further  comment  is 
unnecessary. 

I  wish  now  to  express  my  gratification  that  the  letters  of 
which  the  venerable  ex-President  desired  copies,  to  be  used 
in  his  history  of  his  administration,  have  at  length  made 
their  appearance.  General  Crawford  gives  them  in  his 
"  Genesis  of  the  Civil  War,"  together  with  a  statement  of 
Major  Beauregard's  appointment  on  November  8,  1860,  by 
Secretary  of  War  Floyd,  and  his  subsequent  removal  by 
Mr.  Secretary  Holt,  Floyd's  successor.  Major  Beauregard 
was  from  Louisiana,  and,  as  General  Crawford  no  doubt 
correctly  states,  owed  the  appointment  to  Senator  Slidell, 
his  brother-in-law.  As  regards  secession,  he  had,  General 
Crawford  says,  declared  that  the  course  of  Louisiana  was  to 
decide  his  course.  Mr.  Slidell  knew  his  man.  lie  himself 
was  among  the  most  determined  conspirators  in  seeking  to 
destroy  the  Union  ;  and  I  remember  how  I  was  startled,  I 
think  in  1859,  when  I  met  him  on  the  occasion  of  a  dinner 
at  the  White  House,  and  he  expressed  the  opinion  that  the 
Union  would  soon  be  dissolved.  Seeing  my  surprise,  "  Oh, 
well,"  said  he,  with  apparent  unconcern,  "  it  may  last  five 
or  six  years  longer!"  Of  course  when  he  heard  that  his 
secession  protege  had  been  summarily  dismissed  from  his 
snug  office  of  Superintendent  of  the  Military  Academy  at 
West  Point,  where  he  had  put  him  to  teach  the  cadets  "  how 
to  shoot"  Union  soldiers,  he  was  very  wroth,  and  imme 
diately  addressed  to  President  Buchanan  the  following 
letter : 


BEAUKEGARD'S  REMOVAL  FROM  WEST  POINT.       57 

"  WASHINGTON,  January  27,  1861. 

"MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  have  seen  in  the  Star,  and  heard  from  other 
parties,  that  Major  Beauregard,  who  had  been  ordered  to  West  Point  as 
Superintendent  of  the  Military  Academy,  and  had  entered  on  the  dis 
charge  of  his  duties  there,  had  been  relieved  from  his  command.  May  I 
take  the  liberty  of  asking  you  if  this  has  been  done  with  your  appro 
bation  ? 

"  Very  respectfully  yours, 

"JOHN  SLIDELL." 

General  Crawford  is  at  fault,  as  he  is  in  many  other  things 
in  his  "  Genesis  of  the  Civil  War,"  when  he  says  that  Sen 
ator  Slidell's  "  influence  with  the  President  was  at  this  time 
potential.7'  He  apparently  thought  he  might  overawe  Mr. 
Buchanan,  hut  he  was  not  long  in  finding  out  his  mistake. 

I  have  more  than  once  heard  General  Holt  relate  what 
took  place  between  him  and  the  President  at  this  point,  and, 
as  appeared  by  a  foot-note,  he  communicated  the  same  in  a 
letter  to  General  Crawford,  from  which  I  may  be  allowed 
to  quote.  Soon  after  receiving  Mr.  Slidell's  letter  the  Presi 
dent  sent  for  the  Secretary  of  War  and  handed  him  the 
letter,  saying  to  him,  "  Read  this."  Upon  reading  it  Gen 
eral  Holt,  indignant  at  its  tone,  said,  "  Mr.  President,  we 
have  heard  this  crack  of  the  overseer's  whip  over  our  heads 
long  enough.  This  note  is  an  outrage ;  it  is  one  that  Sen 
ator  Slidell  had  no  right  to  address  to  you."  "  I  think  so 
myself,"  replied  the  President,  "  and  will  write  him  to  that 
effect."  "  No,"  continued  the  Secretary,  "  I  feel  that  I  have 
a  right,  Mr.  President,  to  ask  that  you  do  more  than  this ; 
that  you  will  say  to  Senator  Slidell,  without  qualification 
and  without  explanation,  that  this  is  your  act ;  for  you  know 
that,  as  Secretary  of  War,  I  am  simply  your  representative, 
and  if  my  acts,  as  such,  are  not  your  acts,  then  they  are 
nothing."  The  President  assented  to  this  view,  and  with 
out  delay  sent  to  Mr.  Slidell  the  following  answer : 

"  WASHINGTON,  January  29,  1861. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — With  every  sentiment  of  personal  friendship  and 
regard,  I  am  obliged  to  say,  in  answer  to  your  note  of  Sunday,  that  I 


58  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

have  full  confidence  in  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  his  acts,  in  the  line  of 
his  duty,  are  my  own  acts,  for  which  I  am  responsible. 
"  Yours  very  respectfully, 

"  JAMES  BUCHANAN." 

Speaking  of  this  subject  only  a  few  days  ago,  General 
Holt  expressed  great  satisfaction  at  the  noble  conduct  of  the 
President  on  that  occasion. 

WASHINGTON,  February  11,  1888. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  GOVERNOR'S  GRIEVANCE. 

An  Anecdote  of  Secretary  Holt  and  Governor  ("  Extra  Billy")  Smith — 
The  Governor  wishes  to  know  why  the  Guns  of  Fortress  Monroe  have 
been  Pointed  Landward — Secretary  Holt's  Amusing  Answer. 

I  HAVE  heard  an  amusing  anecdote,  altogether  too  good 
to  be  lost,  in  which  General  Holt,  Secretary  of  War  in  the 
latter  part  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  Administration,  and  the  late 
Governor  William  Smith,  of  Warrenton,  Virginia,  fondly 
known  as  "  Extra  Billy,"  were  the  principal  actors.  With 
out  professing  to  speak  "  by  authority,"  from  my  long  ac 
quaintance  with  those  gentlemen  I  should  not  hesitate  to 
declare  the  story  to  be  true. 

For  more  than  fifty  years  up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  in 
his  eighty-ninth  year,  on  the  18th  of  May,  1887,  no  man 
from  the  Old  Dominion  was  better  known  or  more  respected 
in  Washington  than  the  kind-hearted  and  genial  "  Extra 
Billy"  Smith.  Above  all,  he  was  a  great  favorite  with  the 
ladies.  I  have  seen  him  hold  them  delighted  for  an  hour, 
while  he  told  them,  in  his  rich,  flowing  expression,  of  his 
love-affairs  and  other  touching  incidents  of  his  early  life. 

It  was  in  the  month  of  January  or  February,  or  possibly 
in  the  beginning  of  March,  1861.  Secretary  Holt  was  sit- 


THE  GOVERNOR'S  GRIEVANCE.  59 

ting  alone  in  his  room  at  the  War  Department,  meditating, 
no  doubt,  on  what  to  do  in  the  then  agitated  state  of  the 
country,  when  Governor  Smith  was  announced  and  was  at 
once  shown  in.  He  had  hardly  taken  his  seat  when  he 
said,  with  some  excitement, — any  one  acquainted  with  him 
can  recall  his  manner  of  address  under  the  circumstances, 
— "  Mr.  Secretary,  I  learn  that  cannon  have  been  mounted 
on  the  land  side  of  Fortress  Monroe,  which  I  consider  an 
outrage  on  the  sovereign  State  of  Virginia,  and  I  have  come 
to  see  what  explanation  can  be  made  of  this  extraordinary 
proceeding." 

General  Holt,  though  sometimes  exhibiting  what  might 
be  regarded  as  rather  a  stern  exterior,  is  far  from  cold  when 
the  ice  is  once  broken ;  and  he  has  a  keen  relish  for  genuine 
wit  and  fun.  He  could  not  help  smiling,  perhaps  a  little  too 
broadly,  when  he  replied  :  "  Well,  Governor,  I  am  not  a  mili 
tary  man,  and  do  not  claim  to  have  knowledge  of  the  tactics 
or  strategy  of  war,  but  I  have  always  heard  that  it  was  the 
duty  of  the  commander  of  a  fortification  to  keep  the  muzzles 
of  his  guns  turned  in  the  direction  from  which  he  was 
expecting  the  enemy.  It  is  possible"  (he  added)  "that  this 
traditional  view  of  military  duty  has  led,  under  the  circum 
stances,  to  the  result  of  which  you  speak." 

This  explanation  did  not  seem  to  impress  the  Governor 
favorably,  and  after  a  few  hurried  words  he  left. 


60  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

LETTER    TO    NATHANIEL    MITCHELL,    ESQ.,    OF    BOSTON. 

Views  of  W.  L.  Yancey,  Jefferson  Davis,  J.  C.  Breckinriclge,  and  Howell 
Cobb  averse  to  Secession  prior  to  1861 — Alexander  Hamilton  and 
Judge  Story  against  the  Right  to  Secede — Pointed  Comments. 

WASHINGTON,  October  12,  1861. 

DEAR  SIR, — Your  letter  of  the  8th  instant  is  received. 
I  concur  fully  in  the  views  expressed  by  you  respecting 
the  wickedness  of  the  present  rebellion  and  the  desperate 
character  of  many  of  its  leading  spirits;  nor  have  I  any 
doubt  that  these  men,  who  have  conspired  to  destroy  the 
Government,  will  ere  long  be  brought  to  condign  punish 
ment.  It  cannot  be  otherwise.  Unless  all  history  is  false, 
they  are  certain,  sooner  or  later,  to  meet  the  traitor's  doom. 
They  stand  already  condemned,  not  only  by  the  united  voice 
of  true  loyalty  everywhere,  but  by  the  testimony  of  some  of 
their  own  chieftains.  Said  Mr.  "W.  L.  Yancey,  at  Mont 
gomery,  in  1858 :  "  No  more  inferior  issue  could  be  ten 
dered  to  the  South  upon  which  we  could  dissolve  the 
Union  than  the  loss  of  an  election."  Yet  the  election  of 
Mr.  Lincoln,  admitted  on  all  sides  to  have  been  made  ac 
cording  to  the  requirements  of  the  Constitution,  is  the  con 
trolling  fact  on  which  they  rely  as  a  sufficient  excuse  for 
their  infamous  conduct. 

Mr.  Yancey  continues,  "  When  I  am  asked  to  raise  the 
flao?-  of  rebellion  against  the  Constitution,  I  am  asked  to  do 

O  O 

an  unconstitutional  thing,  according  to  the  requirements  of 
the  Constitution  as  it  now  exists.  I  am  asked  to  put  myself 
in  the  position  of  a  rebel, — of  a  traitor  ;  in  a  position  where, 
if  the  Government  should  succeed  and  put  me  down  in  the 
revolution,  I  and  my  friends  can  be  arraigned  before  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and  there  sentenced 


LETTER  TO  NATHANIEL  MITCHELL,  ESQ.  61 

to  be  hanged  for  violating  the  Constitution  and  the  laws 
of  my  country." 

This  is  clear  and  to  the  point.  There  is  no  intimation 
that  there  was  any  way  of  escape  except  through  success. 
Not  even  the  favorite  subterfuge  of  the  "  right  of  seces 
sion"  seems  then  to  have  been  thought  of  as  affording  any 
chance  for  relief  in  case  of  failure. 

Next  hear  what  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  said  in  Faneuil 
Hall,  in  the  month  of  September,  1858:  "But,"  he  re 
marked,  "  if  those  voices  which  breathed  the  first  instincts 
into  the  colony  of  Massachusetts,  into  those  colonies  which 
formed  the  United  States,  to  proclaim  community,  inde 
pendence,  and  assert  it  against  the  powerful  mother-country 
— if  those  voices  live  here  still,  how  must  they  feel  [alluding 
to  Northern  disunionists]  who  come  here  to  preach  treason 
to  the  Constitution  and  assail  the  Union  it  ordained  and  estab 
lished!  It  would  seem  that  their  criminal  hearts  would 
fear  that  those  voices,  so  long  slumbering,  would  break 
their  silence,  that  those  forms  which  look  down  from  these 
walls,  behind  and  around  me,  would  come  forth,  and  that 
their  sabres  would  once  more  be  drawn  from  their  scab 
bards  to  drive  from  this  sacred  temple  these  fanatical  men, 
who  desecrate  it  more  than  did  the  changers  of  money  and 
those  who  sold  doves  in  the  temple  of  the  living  God." 

If  the  preaching  of  treason  in  Faneuil  Hall  by  a  few 
fanatics  should,  in  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis, 
thus  start  the  dead  to  life,  with  armor  on,  ready  to  battle 
for  the  Constitution  and  the  Union,  what  must  be  the 
effect  of  his  own  conduct  and  that  of  his  guilty  associ 
ates  in  now  assailing  that  Constitution  and  that  Union 
with  arms  in  their  hands  ?  Should  he  not  expect  that, 
awakened  by  the  sound  of  guns  aimed  at  that  glorious 
"flag,  whose  constellation,"  as  he  declared  in  his  speech 
at  Portland,  "  though  torn  and  smoked  in  many  a  battle 
by  sea  and  land,  has  never  been  stained  with  dishonor," — 
should  he  not,  I  say,  look,  at  such  a  time,  to  see  the  im- 


62  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

mortal  Washington,  supported  by  his  brave  compatriots 
in  arms,  rise  up  and  smite  them  from  the  face  of  the 
earth  ? 

Much  as  the  leaders  of  the  rebellion  relied  on  their  own 
internal  strength  and  foreign  aid,  they  depended  yet  more 
for  success  on  division  and  dissension  in  the  free  States. 
Even  while  thus  professing  devotion  to  the  Constitution 
and  the  Union,  looking  to  the  possible  contingency,  if 
not  the  probability,  of  an  early  rupture  between  the  North 
and  the  South,  in  these  same  speeches  from  which  I  have 
quoted,  Mr.  Davis  took  occasion  adroitly  to  inculcate  his 
peculiar  States-Rights  doctrines, — affirming  that  fealty  to 
the  Federal  Government  was  subordinate  to  State  alle 
giance,  and  at  Faneuil  Hall  he  exultantly  said,  "  And  if 
it  comes  to  the  worst,  if,  availing  themselves  of  their  ma 
jority  in  the  two  Houses  of  Congress,  they  should  attempt 
to  trample  upon  our  equality  in  the  Union,  I  believe  that 
there  are  here  in  Massachusetts  States-Rights  Democrats, 
who  have  not  been  represented  in  Congress  for  many  a 
day,  in  whose  breasts  beats  the  spirit  of  the  revolution,  who 
can  whip  the  black  Republicans." 

In  the  same  confident  tone  Mr.  J.  C.  Breckinridge, 
deprecating  the  employment  of  force  against  the  revolt 
ing  cotton  States,  in  his  letter  of  the  6th  of  January  last 
to  the  Governor  of  Kentucky,  held  this  language :  "  The 
Federal  Union  cannot  be  preserved  by  arms.  The  attempt 
would  unite  the  Southern  States  in  resistance,  while  in  the 
North  a  great  multitude  of  true  and  loyal  men  never  would 
consent  to  shed  the  blood  of  our  people  in  the  name  and 
under  the  authority  of  a  violated  compact." 

Such,  I  think  I  am  correct  in  saying,  was  the  opinion  of 
most  of  the  prominent  politicians,  not  to  say  statesmen,  of 
the  South  prior  to  the  inauguration  of  the  war  by  "  that 
ungodly  and  unmanly  assault  upon  the  little  garrison  of 
Sumter"  (as  Mr.  "Winthrop  forcibly  characterizes  it);  nor 
is  it  more  strange  that  they  indulged  this  belief  than  that 


LETTER  TO  NATHANIEL  MITCHELL,  ESQ.  63 

they  finally  became  so  lost  to  all  sense  of  honor  as  to 
plunge  the  country  from  the  height  of  prosperity  and 
happiness  into  a  cruel  civil  war.  By  the  aid  of  their 
friends  in  the  free  States  they  had  hitherto  secured 
nearly  everything  they  had  demanded  and  maintained 
their  supremacy  in  the  Government,  and,  like  spoiled 
children,  they  had  the  presumption  to  think  that  these 
friends  would  adhere  to  them  to  the  extent  even  of  assist 
ing  to  trample  the  flag  of  their  country  in  the  dust. 

The  more  I  reflect  upon  the  atrocious  conduct  of  these 
men,  the  more  amazed  do  I  become  at  the  enormity  of  their 
guilt.  Who,  one  year  ago,  would  have  believed  such  a 
spectacle  possible  as  that  which  we  behold  to-day  ? — more 
than  two  hundred  thousand  men  in  arms  against  our  Govern 
ment,  a  Government  the  most  beneficent  the  world  ever  saw, 
and  all  this  primarily  through  the  influence  and  combined 
action  of  probably  less  than  one  hundred  individuals.  It 
could  not  and  did  not  take  place  alone  from  natural  causes. 
No  adequate  cause  nor  combination  of  causes  existed  to 
justify  it.  The  whole  country  was  prosperous,  and  the 
people,  in  spite  of  the  angry  contentions  of  politicians, 
were  generally  contented  and  happy.  Even  after  the  con 
spirators  succeeded  in  breaking  up  the  Democratic  Conven 
tions  at  Charleston  and  Baltimore, — which,  it  now  plainly 
appears,  was  an  important  step,  sternly  determined  on  and 
resolutely  carried  out,  in  their  programme  of  disunion, — 
the  great  mass  of  the  Southern  people  were  loyal  in  their 
feeling,  so  much  so  that  Mr.  Yancey  himself,  in  his  public 
address  before  them,  was  constrained  to  profess  a  love  for 
the  Union  ;  arid  Mr.  Breckinridge,  as  a  candidate  for  the 
Presidency,  and  especially  for  the  extreme  States-Rights 
party,  felt  compelled  in  the  most  emphatic  manner  to  de 
clare  himself  devotedly  attached  to  the  Union.  Here  is 
what  he  said  on  the  occasion  of  being  serenaded  at  his 
home  in  Frankfort,  on  the  18th  of  July,  1860  :  "  Fellow- 
citizens, — As  to  the  charge  that  the  convention  to  which  I 


64  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

owe  my  nomination,  or  that  the  friends  who  support  me, 
or  that  I  myself  am  tainted  with  a  spirit  of  disunion,  how 
absurd  to  make  a  response  to  a  Kentucky  audience,  and 
in  this  old  district,  too !  I  am  an  American  citizen, — a 
Kentuckian  who  never  did  an  act  nor  cherished  a  thought 
that  was  not  full  of  devotion  to  the  Constitution  and  the 
Union.  .  .  .  That  Constitution  was  framed  and  transmitted 
by  the  wisest  generation  of  men  that  ever  lived  in  the  tide 
of  time.  It  may  be  called  an  inspired  instrument.  It 
answered  them  at  an  early  day.  It  has  answered  our  pur 
pose.  It  is  good  enough  for  our  posterity  to  keep  it 
pure." 

Alas !  Where  now  is  this  once  proud  and  gallant  Ken 
tuckian  who  so  recently  filled  the  second  highest  office  in 
the  gift  of  the  republic  ?  A  fugitive  from  his  own  loyal 
State,  not  merely  "  tainted  with  a  spirit  of  disunion,"  but, 
with  shame  and  mortification  be  it  spoken,  an  open  rebel 
and  traitor,  in  the  camp  and  service  of  the  enemy. 

One  of  the  ablest  and  purest  among  Southern  statesmen, 
Mr.  J.  S.  Millson,  late  representative  in  Congress  from  the 
Norfolk  district,  in  a  letter  dated  August  21,  1860,  said  : 
"  Mr.  Breckinridge  was,  I  fear,  put  up  to  be  beaten,  not 
to  be  elected,  and  to  make  sure,  also,  of  the  defeat  of  any 
Democratic  competitor.  .  .  .  That  there  is  a  purpose  to  ac 
complish  the  destruction  of  the  present  Union  I  have  much 
reason  to  fear." 

But  referring  to  the  controversies  then  going  on  upon 
issues  relating  to  slavery,  both  between  the  Democratic  and 
Republican,  and  between  the  two  sections  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party,  he  remarked  :  "  The  truth  is,  both  quarrels 
relate  rather  to  speculative  differences  of  opinion  than  to 
evils  or  dangers  of  which  there  is  any  well-founded  ap 
prehension.  I  allude,  of  course,  to  evils  and  dangers  re 
sulting  from  Federal  legislation.  And  yet  the  quarrel  has 
never  been  fiercer  than  now.  The  explanation  must  be 
sought,  not  in  history,  but  in  psychology :  it  is,  that  there 


LETTER  TO  NATHANIEL  MITCHELL,  ESQ.  65 

never  has  been  so  little  to  quarrel  about.  ...  It  is  the  Union 
that  is  wounded  and  suffers  with  us  from  every  blow 
struck  at  the  Constitution,  and  those  who  counsel  secession 
on  the  bare  apprehension  of  injustice  forget  that  to  flee 
from  wrongs  committed  against  the  Union  is  to  flee  from 
remedies  provided  by  the  Union." 

In  his  speech  delivered  in  the  hall  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  Georgia  on  the  14th  of  November  last, 
Mr.  Alexander  II.  Stephens,  now  Yice-President  of  the  so- 
called  Confederate  States,  declared,  "  frankly,  candidly,  and 
earnestly,"  that  he  did  not  think  the  people  of  the  South 
ought  to  secede  from  the  Union  in  consequence  of  the 
election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  to  the  Presidency  of  the  United 
States. 

"In  my  judgment,"  said  he,  "the  election  of  no  man, 
constitutionally  chosen  to  that  high  office,  is  sufficient  cause 
for  any  State  to  separate  from  the  Union.  It  ought  to  stand 
by  and  aid  still  in  maintaining  the  Constitution  of  the 
country.  To  make  a  point  of  resistance  to  the  Government, 
to  withdraw  from  it  because  a  man  has  been  constitutionally 
elected,  puts  us  in  the  wrong.  ...  If  all  our  hopes  are  to 
be  blasted,  if  the  republic  is  to  go  down,  let  us  be  found  to 
the  last  moment  standing  on  the  deck  with  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  waving  over  our  heads.  .  .  .  The 
President  of  the  United  States  is  no  emperor,  no  dictator ; 
he  is  clothed  with  no  absolute  power.  lie  can  do  nothing 
unless  he  is  backed  by  power  in  Congress.  The  House  of 
Representatives  is  largely  in  the  majority  against  him.  In 
the  Senate  he  will  also  be  powerless.  There  will  be  a  ma 
jority  of  four  against  him.  .  .  .  My  countrymen,  I  am  not 
of  those  who  believe  this  Union  has  been  a  curse  up  to  this 
time.  .  .  .  But  that  this  Government  of  oar  fathers,  with  all 
its  defects,  comes  nearer  the  object  of  all  good  governments 
than  any  other  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  is  my  settled  con 
viction.  .  .  .  Have  we  not  at  the  South  as  well  as  at  the 
North  grown  great,  prosperous,  and  happy  under  its  op- 

5 


66  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

eration  ?  Has  any  part  of  the  world  ever  shown  such  rapid 
progress  in  the  development  of  wealth  and  all  the  material 
resources  of  national  power  and  greatness  as  the  Southern 
States  have  under  the  general  Government,  notwithstand 
ing  all  its  defects?  .  .  .  Some  of  our  public  men  have 
failed  in  their  aspirations :  that  is  true,  and  from  that  comes 
a  great  part  of  our  troubles." 

This  last  observation  was  received  with  "  prolonged  ap 
plause,"  and  the  feeling  in  Georgia  continued,  in  various 
ways,  to  manifest  itself  strongly  in  favor  of  the  Union 
until,  as  in  the  other  revolting  States,  silenced  for  the  time 
being  by  violence. 

But  notwithstanding  the  undoubted  attachment  to  the 
Union  of  the  great  majority  of  the  people  of  the  South,  the 
conspirators,  whose  head-quarters  were  in  this  city,  deter 
mined,  reckless  of  consequences,  that  the  work  of  separation 
should  go  on. 

"  State  Sovereignty,"  "  Peaceable  Secession,"  "  No  Co 
ercion,"  was  their  cry,  while  they  threw  out  the  bait  of 
"  Reconstruction"  to  draw  in  the  doubting  and  to  deceive 
the  unwary.  The  greatest  pains  seem  to  have  been  taken 
to  impress  upon  the  minds  of  Southern  men  holding  influ 
ential  positions,  especially  officers  of  the  army  and  navy, 
that  the  allegiance  due  from  them  to  their  respective  States 
was  paramount  to  that  which  they  owed  to  the  United 
States ;  and  in  this  consists  the  fatal  error  of  thousands  of 
honest  Southern  men.  How  strange  to  us,  who  feel  in  every 
pulse  and  nerve,  in  our  very  souls,  that  we  are  citizens, — 
not  merely  of  this  or  that  State,  but  American  citizens! 
State  sovereignty,  as  understood  and  proclaimed  by  Southern 
radicals,  is  a  fallacy.  Need  we  proof  of  this  ?  It  is  abun 
dant  and  conclusive ;  and,  since  I  have  set  out  by  quoting 
freely  from  various  sources,  and  as  I  wish  to  group  these 
things,  as  well  for  my  own  as  for  your  satisfaction,  I  will 
here  cite  a  few  authorities,  either  of  which  ought  to  put 
this  question  forever  at  rest.  I  commence  with  extracts 


LETTER  TO  NATHANIEL  MITCHELL,  ESQ.  67 

from  the  letter  of  George  Washington  to  the  President  of 

O  O 

Congress,  17th  September,  1787,  presenting  officially  to 
Congress  the  Constitution  as  passed  by  the  Convention  of 
which  he  was  President.  This  letter,  as  a  writer  in  the 
National  Intelligencer  remarks,  was  prepared  and  submitted 
by  Washington  for  the  approval  of  the  Convention,  and  was 
approved  by  them  unanimously ',  paragraph  by  paragraph : 
"  It  is  obviously  impracticable  in  the  Federal  Government 
of  these  States  to  secure  all  rights  of  independent  sovereignty 
to  each,  and  yet  provide  for  the  interests  and  safety  of  all. 
Individuals  entering  into  society  must  give  up  a  share  of 
liberty  to  preserve  the  rest.  ...  It  is  at  all  times  difficult 
to  draw  with  precision  the  line  between  those  rights  which 
must  be  surrendered  and  those  which  must  be  reserved.  .  .  . 
In  all  our  deliberations  on  this  subject,  we  kept  steadily  in 
our  view  that  which  appears  to  us  the  greatest  interest  to 
every  true  American,  the  consolidation  of  our  Union,  in  which 
is  involved  our  prosperity,  felicity,  safety,  and,  perhaps,  our 
national  existence." 

Chief  Justice  Marshall  states  his  opinion  clearly  in  the 
next  two  extracts  :  "  The  Government  of  the  Union  is  em 
phatically  and  truly  a  Government  of  the  people.  In  form 
and  in  substance  it  emanates  from  them.  Its  powers  are 
granted  by  them,  and  are  to  be  exercised  directly  on  them 
and  for  them." 

And  again  :  "  The  people  made  the  Constitution,  and  the 
people  can  unmake  it.  It  is  the  creature  of  their  will,  and 
lives  only  by  their  will.  But  this  supreme  and  irresistible 
power  to  make  or  unmake  resides  only  in  the  whole  body 
of  the  people,  not  in  any  subdivision  of  them.  The  attempt 
of  any  of  the  parts  to  exercise  it  is  usurpation,  and  ought 
to  be  repelled  by  those  to  whom  the  people  have  delegated 
their  power  of  repelling  it." 

Judge  Story  is  not  less  explicit  and  decided  in  the  follow 
ing  :  "  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  ordained 
and  established,  not  by  the  States  in  their  sovereign  capaci- 


68  TUENING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

ties,  but  emphatically,  as  the  preamble  of  the  Constitution 
declares,  by  '  The  People  of  the  United  States.' " 

The  second  clause  of  the  sixth  article  of  the  Constitution 
itself  is  in  the  following  language  :  "  This  Constitution  and 
laws  of  the  United  States  which  shall  be  made  in  pursu 
ance  thereof,  and  all  treaties  made,  or  which  shall  be  made, 
under  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  the 
supreme  law  of  the  land;  and  the  judges  in  every  State 
shall  be  bound  thereby,  anything  in  the  Constitution  or  laws 
of  any  State  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding" 

With  reference  to  the  question  whether  a  State,  under  any 
circumstances,  could  rightfully  secede  from  the  Union,  Mr. 
Madison  says  :  "  My  opinion  is  that  a  reservation  of  a  right 
to  withdraw,  if  amendments  be  not  decided  on  under  the 
form  of  the  Constitution  within  a  certain  time,  is  a  con 
ditional  ratification ;  that  it  does  not  make  New  York  a 
member  of  the  new  Union,  and  consequently  should  not  be 
received  on  that  plan.  Compacts  must  be  reciprocal ;  this 
principle  would  not  in  such  a  case  be  preserved.  The  Con 
stitution  requires  an  adoption  in  toto  and  forever" 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Hamilton  on  the  subject,  he  further 
says :  "  The  idea  of  reserving  a  right  to  withdraw  was 
started  at  Richmond,  and  considered  as  a  conditional  ratifi 
cation,  which  was  itself  abandoned  as  worse  than  a  rejec 
tion." 

In  the  year  1850,  Mr.  Howell  Cobb,  quoting  and  endorsing 
these  opinions  of  Mr.  Madison  against  "  the  right  of  a  State 
to  secede  and  thus  dissolve  the  Union,"  truthfully  says : 
"  The  policy  of  our  Government,  during  its  whole  exist 
ence,  looks  to  the  continuance  and  perpetuity  of  the  Union. 
Its  temporary  and  conditional  existence  is  nowhere  im 
pressed  either  upon  its  domestic  or  foreign  policy.  .  .  .  Now 
we  are  told  that  there  is  no  obligation  to  observe  that  Union 
beyond  the  pleasure  of  the  parties  to  it,  and  that  the  Con 
stitution  can  be  annulled  by  the  act  of  any  State  in  the 
Confederacy.  I  do  not  so  understand  our  Government.  I 


LETTER  TO  NATHANIEL  MITCHELL,  ESQ.  69 

feel  that  I  owe  my  allegiance  to  a  Government  possessed  of 
more  vitality  and  strength  than  that  which  is  drawn  from  a 
voluntary  obedience  to  the  laws." 

It  is  due  to  Mr.  Cobb  that  I  should  state  here  a  historical 
fact,  which  certainly  ought  not  to  be  and  will  not  be  for 
gotten,  namely,  that  while  holding  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet  on 
a  salary  of  §8000  a  year,  he  prepared  an  elaborate  and  in 
flammatory  address  to  the  people  of  his  State,  in  which  he 
counselled  an  immediate  resort  to  secession.  Said  he,  "  I 
entertain  no  doubt  either  of  your  right  or  your  duty  to  secede 
from  the  Union." 

I  have  stated  that  the  conspirators  had  their  head 
quarters  in  this  city.  I  should  add  that  many  of  them 
were  under  pay  of  the  United  States,  and  until  late  into  the 
last  winter,  their  leading  newspaper  organ,  the  Constitution, 
whose  editor  was  a  foreigner  of  the  Hessian  order,  was 
sustained  at  the  seat  of  the  general  Government.  They 
were  all  "  honorable  gentlemen,"  and  ardent  advocates  of 
"  peace."  Of  course  their  request,  to  be  "  let  alone,"  could 
not  be  disregarded  without  the  danger  of  serious  conse 
quences.  They  retained  their  seats  in  the  Cabinet  and 
legislative  halls  during  the  day,  opposing  every  measure 
intended  to  strengthen  and  protect  the  Government,  and 
secretly  plotted  treason  at  night.  They  were  keenly  averse 
to  the  ordering  of  troops  to  Washington,  and  when,  in  spite 
of  their  opposition,  several  companies  of  regulars  were 
brought  here  to  secure  the  safety  of  the  capital,  some  of 
them  "  gnashed  their  teeth  in  rage."  Here  their  plans  were 
concocted  which  were  to  carry  all  the  slave  States  out  of  the 
Union  and  give  them  the  city  of  Washington  as  their  seat 
of  government.  They  were  "  honorable  gentlemen,"  and 
this  was  to  be  done  "  legally,"  under  the  authority  of  "  State 
Sovereignty"  and  the  "  Sacred  Right  of  Secession."  The 
forts,  arsenals,  navy- yards,  custom-houses,  government  de 
posits,  etc.,  were  to  be  seized  only  just  so  fast  as  the  States 
in  which  they  were  located  should  pass  their  ordinances  of 


70  TUKNING  OX  THE  LIGHT. 

secession,  and  the  city  of  Washington  was  to  be  taken 
only  when  both  Virginia  and  Maryland  should  be  fairly  out 
of  the  Union.  For  a  while  they  went  on  quite  smoothly, 
encountering  scarcely  the  slightest  opposition,  much  of 
which  success  was  owing  to  the  ability  and  foresight  of 
that  celebrated  financier,  the  "  honorable"  J.  B.  Floyd,  in 
managing,  while  Secretary  of  War,  to  leave  the  fortifica 
tions,  etc.,  either  without  garrisons,  or,  as  in  the  case  of 
General  Twiggs's  command  in  Texas,  under  the  charge  of 
officers  known  to  be  traitors  at  heart.  True,  in  some  in 
stances  they  did  not  wait  for  the  passage  of  the  ordinances 
of  secession  before  taking  possessi on  of  the  public  property ; 
and  but  for  the  presence  of  General  McClellan  and  his  band 
of  patriots,  no  doubt  they  might  bring  their  tender  con 
sciences  to  consent  as  "  a  military  necessity"  to  their  occupy 
ing  Washington  at  once,  notwithstanding  that,  owing  to  the 
absence  of  some  of  her  distinguished  citizens  on  a  visit  to 
Colonel  Burke,  of  "  PHotel  de  Lafayette,"  in  New  York, 
Maryland  has  not  yet  "  seceded." 

Seriously,  is  there  in  the  history  of  the  world  to  be  found 
an  account  of  any  rebellion  which,  in  the  enormity  of  its 
wickedness,  can  begin  to  compare  with  what  we  now  wit 
ness?  There  is  no  such  record,  and  there  never  was  so 
great  a  crime  committed  by  a  people  entitled  to  be  styled 
civilized,  as  that  now  being  perpetrated  by  the  rebels  of  the 
Southern  States.  It  is  appalling  to  contemplate.  Think  of 
the  suffering  and  distress  already  caused  and  the  still  greater 
pain  and  sorrow  indescribable  which,  ere  the  rebellion  is 
subdued,  must  be  experienced  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  land,  by  this  most  inexcusable  and  savage 
attempt  to  subvert  the  mildest  and  best  Government  ever 
vouchsafed  to  mortal  man. 

No  wonder  that  the  loyal  heart  of  the  nation  is  bleeding 
in  agony  at  this  awful  spectacle. 

No  wonder  that  the  Sons  of  Liberty  in  countless  numbers 
are  aroused  and  hastening  with  stout  hearts  and  strong  arms 


LETTER  TO  NATHANIEL  MITCHELL,  ESQ.  71 

to  the  rescue,  all  resolutely  declaring  that  "  the  Union  must 
and  shall  be  preserved."  Yes,  and  rest  assured  the  Union  will 
be  preserved. 

Welcome,  thrice  welcome,  then,  say  I,  to  these  brave 
soldiers.  On  to  victory ! 

"  Strike  till  the  last  armed  foe  expires, 
Strike  for  your  altars  and  your  fires, 
Strike  for  the  green  graves  of  your  sires, 
God,  and  your  native  land." 

Let  me  not  be  misunderstood.  I  entertain  no  hostile  feel 
ings  against  the  South.  On  the  contrary,  I  have  always 
been,  and  trust  I  shall  ever  continue  to  be,  her  steadfast 
friend.  I  would  defend  her  to  the  last  against  every  en 
croachment,  and  secure  to  her  the  uninterrupted  enjoyment 
of  all  her  just  rights  under  the  Constitution.  Her  people 
are  our  brethren,  and  I  rejoice  to  know  from  personal  obser 
vation  that  the  feeling  of  friendship  toward  them  in  the 
North  remains  unshaken.  It  is  not  against  them  that  we 

O 

contend,  but  against  a. band  of  traitors  and  conspirators, 
their  oppressors,  and  for  their  deliverance.  In  a  word,  the 
war  which  has  been  forced  upon  us,  and  in  which  we  are 
engaged,  "  is  not  one  of  aggression,  or  conquest,  or  spolia 
tion,  or  passion,  but,  in  every  light  in  which  it  can  be  re 
garded,  it  is  a  war  of  duty.  The  struggle  is  intensely  one 
for  national  existence." 

Very  truly  yours, 

HORATIO  KING. 
NATHANIEL  MITCHELL,  ESQ., 

BOSTON,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


72  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

ADDRESS    OF   HORATIO    KINO   ON    THE    WAR. 

Delivered  at  Oxford  and  Paris,  Maine,  in  August,  1862 ;  never  before 
published — Vivid  Sketch  of  the  Times. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN, — Unaccustomed  as  I  am  to  pub 
lic  speaking,  I  am,  nevertheless,  glad  of  the  opportunity  of 
giving  expression  here,  the  home  of  my  youth,  to  the  senti 
ments  nearest  my  heart  touching  the  wicked  and  uncalled- 
for  rebellion  now  threatening  the  destruction  of  the  best 
government  upon  the  face  of  the  earth. 

What  do  we  behold  ?  A  people  numbering  more  than 
twenty  millions,  all  in  a  condition  of  unparalleled  pros 
perity,  suddenly  thrown  into  a  state  of  war ;  and  for  what  ? 
Were  any  portion  suffering  under  wrongs  which  could  not 
have  been  redressed  by  the  peaceful  means  provided  by  the 
Constitution  ?  ~No ;  the  ballot-box  was  still  open  to  them, 
and  the  loyalty  of  the  great  body  of  the  people  was  yet 
unshaken,  when  a  few  desperate  men,  who  had  long  been 
plotting  the  overthrow  of  the  Government  in  the  event  of 
being  unable  to  control  its  action,  set  about  to  obtain  pos 
session  of  or  destroy  it  by  force  of  arms. 

My  friends,  from  that  moment  there  have  been  but  two 
parties  in  this  country,  one  for  and  the  other  against  the 
Union.  True,  men  may  differ  as  to  the  proper  mode  of 
conducting  the  war;  but  all  who  are  not  now  ready  to  lend 
their  countenance  and  support  to  the  Government  in  its 
efforts  to  put  down  this  rebellion.  I  care  not  whether  they 
be  North  or  South,  are  at  heart  traitors,  and  should  be 
treated  as  such. 

It  is  too  late  to  go  into  a  discussion  of  the  causes  of  the 
war, — at  least,  any  such  discussion  should  be  postponed 
until  the  contest  is  ended.  It  is  enough  to  know  that  the 


ADDRESS  OF  HORATIO  KING  ON  THE  WAR.          73 

war  has  been  forced  upon  us,  and  that  we  must  now  either 
conquer  or  be  conquered.  A  permanent  division  is  out  of 
the  question.  Were  peace  proclaimed  to-day  on  the  basis 
of  a  dividing  line  and  the  acknowledgment  of  a  Southern 
Confederacy,  two  years  would  not  elapse  before  we  should 
be  again  at  war  more  determined  and  fiercer  than  ever. 

There  is  in  the  South,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  a  class  of  men 
who  have  been  educated  to  think  themselves  the  superiors 
of  Northern  men,  and  especially  of  our  laboring  classes, 
whose  intelligence  they  underrate  and  whose  courage  they 
have  heretofore  doubted.  This  class  is  known  as  the 
"  Chivalry,"  and,  having  secured  political  control  by  making 
politics  their  sole  study  and  business,  they  have  unfortu 
nately  had  it  in  their  power,  although  in  a  small  minority, 
so  to  shape  the  course  of  their  State  and  county  organiza 
tions  as  to  override  the  more  quiet  and  law-abiding  portion 
of  the  Southern  community  ;  and  nothing  short  of  a  severe 
chastisement  will  serve  to  bring  them  to  that  state  of  rational 
common-sense  and  decency  which  is  consistent  with  repub 
lican  equality  and  good  neighborhood.  Without  a  sound 
drubbing,  this  class,  which  is  not  confined  to  the  male  gender, 
will  never  consent  to  live  at  peace  with  us,  unless,  indeed, 
we  will  agree  to  be  their  slaves. 

No,  gentlemen,  there  can  be  no  peace  now,  except 
through  stern,  unrelenting  war;  and  those  among  you  who 
cry  "  Peace,  peace,"  should  be  regarded  as  no  better  than 
rebels  in  disguise,  if  they  are  not  so  in  fact. 

Peace,  forsooth !  Yet  we  may  have  peace  if  we  will  give 
up  to  the  rebels  the  slave  States,  the  District  of  Columbia 
with  its  public  buildings,  the  control  of  the  Mississippi,  raise 
the  blockade,  and  settle  quietly  down  as  "  hewers  of  wood 
and  drawers  of  water"  to  this  self-inflated  Southern  chivalry. 
Nothing  short  of  this  will  satisfy  them  ;  and,  if  you  have  any 
here  at  the  North  who  are  so  blinded  by  partisan  spite  or  so 
degraded  from  innate  meanness  as  to  be  willing  to  submit 
to  such  a  peace  as  this,  I  hope  and  trust  it  may  be  so  man- 


74  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

aged  that  they  may  be  drafted  and  forced  to  go  where  the 
bullets  of  the  enemy  will  put  an  end  to  their  God-for-saken 
lives. 

I  have  said  it  is  not  now  the  time  to  discuss  the  causes  of 
the  war ;  but  I  may  say  that,  whatever  these  causes,  they 
were  one  and  all  insufficient  to  justify  this  wicked  assault 
on  the  flag  of  the  Union.  There  was  no  subject  of  contro 
versy  which,  with  sensible  men,  could  not  have  been  adjusted 
without  a  resort  to  arms.  The  cry  of  "  abolition,"  raised 
by  the  conspirators,  was  only  a  pretext.  South  Carolina, 
the  leader  of  the  rebellion,  never  lost  a  slave.  The  real 
conspirators  had  for  years  been  secretly  engaged  in  prepa 
rations  to  "  precipitate  the  South  into  revolution."  Instead 
of  seeking  to  prevent  the  election  of  Lincoln,  which  they 
falsely  proclaim  as  a  reason  for  their  infidelity,  they  did  all 
in  their  power  to  secure  it. 

But  they  really  had  nothing  to  fear  from  his  elevation  to 
the  Presidency.  Had  they  kept  their  places  in  the  halls  of 
Congress,  instead  of  retiring  in  mock  dignity  and  leaving 
their  seats  vacant,  they  would,  with  the  aid  of  the  conserva 
tive  party  of  the  loyal  States,  have  been  able  to  control  every 
important  appointment  under  the  Government,  even  the 
members  of  his  Cabinet.  IsTor  would  it  have  been  in  the 
power  of  Congress  to  pass  a  single  measure  tending  to  inter 
fere  with  slavery  in  any  State  where  it  exists,  nor  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  where  it  is  now  forever  abolished. 
Their  purpose  was  first  to  embarrass  and  then  break  up  or 
get  control  of  the  Government.  Meantime,  while  State  after 
State  was  seceding,  or  proclaiming  secession  from  the  Union, 
armed  bands  were  taking  possession  of  the  forts,  arsenals, 
custom-houses,  and  other  Government  property  in  those 
States,  and  the  determination  no  doubt  was,  if  possible,  thus 
to  carry  every  slave  State  out,  including  Maryland,  when  the 
capital  itself  was  to  fall  into  their  hands.  This  they  hoped 
to  do  before  Lincoln's  inauguration.  All  through  the  winter 
of  1860-61,  still  having  their  head-quarters  at  Washington, 


ADDRESS  OF  HORATIO  KING  ON  THE  WAR.         75 

they  were  every  moment  occupied  in  their  work  of  con 
spiracy,  some  of  their  number  being  yet  in  the  Cabinet, 
where,  professing  to  be  entirely  loyal,  they  were  unfortu 
nately  allowed  to  remain  to  a  late  day.  The  error  is  plain 
now :  it  was  not  so  clear  then,  else  they  would  undoubtedly 
have  been  required  to  leave  long  before  they  did.  NOT 
would  their  political  organ,  the  Constitution  newspaper,  have 
been  so  long  permitted  there,  at  the  very  seat  of  Govern 
ment,  to  counsel  open  rebellion,  had  the  Government  or  the 
people  seen,  as  they  now  see,  that  treason,  and  only  rank 
treason,  was  at  the  bottom  of  all  these  proceedings.  The 
constant  cry  then  was  "  Peace,  peace,"  and  few  would  believe 
that  the  South  would  venture  beyond  a  menace  against  the 
Union,  which,  as  they  had  indulged  in  this  practice,  though 
in  a  milder  manner,  so  often  before,  it  was  supposed  was 
resorted  to  merely  for  political  effect.  A  great  error.  Some 
few  were  for  the  adoption  of  energetic  measures  against  the 
conspirators,  but  the  prominent  sentiment,  or  perhaps  hope, 
seemed  to  be  that  if  the  shedding  of  blood  could  be  avoided 
all  might  yet  be  well.  This  view,  of  course,  was  favored  by 
all  the  conspirators  and  their  satellites,  who  were  constantly 
011  the  alert  to  prevent  the  Government,  as  far  as  lay  in  their 
power,  from  taking  any  measures  of  defence.  To  my  cer 
tain  knowledge,  their  utmost  influence  was  exerted  to  pre 
vent  the  bringing  of  troops  to  Washington,  and  some  of 
them  were  heard  to  say,  when  this  was  finally  accomplished, 
just  prior  to  the  inauguration,  that  the  then  Secretary  of 
War — the  patriotic  and  true-hearted  Joseph  Holt — would 
"be  execrated  by  the  South"  for  his  action  in  producing 
this  important  result,  while  others  declared  he  "ought 
to  be  placed  in  a  strait  jacket."  Understand,  these  pro 
fessedly  "  peace"  men,  or,  at  least,  the  most  of  them,  were 
not  then  open  traitors,  but  were  boisterous  and  some  of  them 
sincere  in  their  devotion  to  the  Union ;  and  as  their  loyalty 
had  not  hitherto  been  questioned,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
they  should  have  been  listened  to  with  a  degree  of  respect. 


76  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

It  was  not,  in  fact,  until  some  time  after  the  inauguration 
that  anything  resembling  a  warlike  policy  was  adopted  on 
the  part  of  the  national  Government.  Mr.  Lincoln  had 
assured  the  country  of  his  stern  purpose  to  see  that  the 
rights  of  the  people  in  every  section  were  protected,  and 
of  his  earnest  desire  for  the  preservation  of  peace.  He  had 
offered  positions  in  his  Cabinet  to  prominent  Southern  men 
and  given  every  evidence  of  a  friendly  disposition  towards 
the  South  that  any  but  base  traitors  could  expect  or  de 
mand;  but  all  to  no  purpose.  The  rebellion  had  become 
thoroughly  rooted  in  the  hearts  of  the  original  conspirators, 
whose  motto  was  "  rule  or  ruin,"  and  the  Government  and 
the  people  were  at  length  compelled  to  give  up  all  hope  of 
peace,  and  now,  as  it  were,  for  the  first  time,  to  look  hid 
eous  war  full  in  the  face.  If  doubt  had  existed  before, 
there  was  now  no  question  as  to  the  real  purpose  of  the 
conspirators,  and  that  the  capital  was  actually  in  clanger. 

What  was  the  Government  to  do  ?  Was  it  to  sit  still  and 
patiently  wait  the  arrival  of  the  "  Southern  Chivalry,"  who, 
defeated  at  the  polls,  were,  Mexican-like,  coming  to  take 
possession  by  force  of  arms  ?  Is  there  in  all  the  loyal 
States  a  single  person,  not  a  traitor  at  heart,  who  will  pro 
claim  himself  a  dastard  by  declaring  that  it  was  not  the 
imperative  duty  of  the  President  to  make  the  call  for  the 
first  seventy-five  thousand  troops  when  he  did  ?  Does  any 
one  now  believe  that  if  these  decisive  measures  had  not 
been  adopted,  Washington  would  not  have  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  the  rebels  ?  If  any  such  there  be,  let  me  tell  him 
he  was  never  more  mistaken.  I  firmly  believe  that  it  was 
their  plan  to  usurp  the  government,  and,  once  in  possession, 
they  relied  on  sufficient  support  from  the  Middle  and 
Western  States  to  enable  them  to  establish  themselves  per 
manently  therein,  thus  securing  not  only  their  ascendency 
but  the  perpetuity  of  their  favorite  institution. 

And  how  was  this  call  of  the  President  received  by  the 
South  ?  It  was  at  once  misrepresented.  The  people,  already 


ADDRESS  OF  HORATIO  KING  ON  THE  WAR.          77 

greatly  excited,  were  told  that,  instead  of  the  defence  of 
Washington,  "  subjugation  of  the  South"  was  to  be  the 
work  of  the  troops  thus  called  into  the  field.  Under  this 
delusion  and  deception,  overawed  by  armed  sentinels,  the 
people  of  Virginia  committed  the,  to  her,  fatal  error  of  se 
ceding  from  the  Union.  Had  she  remained  firm  and  for 
bidden  the  armed  traitors  of  the  Cotton  States  to  pollute, 
by  their  footsteps,  the  soil  of  the  once  glorious  but  now 
degraded  Old  Dominion,  it  is  highly  probable  the  rebellion 
would  ere  this  have  been  crushed  and  the  country  once 
more  united  and  happy. 

Such,  however,  was  not  to  be  our  lot,  and  it  was  left  only 
for  the  Government  to  put  forth  its  strength  for  a  desperate 
struggle.  Most  nobly  have  the  people  rushed  to  the  rescue. 
In  this  bloody  and  unexpected  contest,  is  it  strange  that  the 
Government,  thus  taken  by  surprise,  should  commit  some 
mistakes?  Certainly  not.  But,  after  all,  is  it  not  wonder 
ful  that  so  much  has  been  accomplished  in  the  short  time 
we  have  been  engaged  in  active  warfare,  considering  the 
gigantic  proportions  of  the  rebellion  and  the  savage  char 
acter  of  our  assailants  ?  Endangered,  as  we  constantly  have 
been  and  are,  by  traitors  from  without  and  within,  the  enemy 
have  nevertheless  been  encircled  by  a  Avail  of  fire,  they 
have  been  defeated  in  many  a  well-fought  battle,  and  the 
pressure  on  nearly  every  side  is  becoming  more  and  more 
severe  every  day.  Our  navy,  soon  I  trust  to  be  in  a  condi 
tion  "  to  defy  the  world  in  arms,"  has  covered  itself  with 
glory,  our  brave  officers  and  soldiers  are  earning  for 
themselves  undying  fame,  and  we  who  remain  at  home 
have  but  to  do  our  duty  in  contributing  by  every  means  in 
our  power  to  the  support  of  the  holy  cause  of  the  Union, 
and  there  is  no  fear  of  the  result. 

As  in  the  days  of  the  Revolution,  so  now  we  rejoice  to 
see  that  the  gentler  sex  are  in  no  wise  backward  in  lending 
a  helping  hand.  With  words  of  encouragement,  they  are 
sending  their  sons,  their  husbands,  and  their  brothers  to  the 


78  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

field  of  strife,  themselves  in  many  instances  performing  the 
work  of  husbands  and  sons  and  brothers  in  their  absence. 
While  those  at  home  generally  manifest  an  earnest  desire  to 
aid  the  good  cause  and  are  thus  doing  all  they  can  to  that 
end,  many  have  enlisted  as  nurses  for  the  sick  and  wounded 
in  the  army,  and,  go  where  you  may  in  the  hospitals, 
you  will  find  one  or  more  of  these  angels  of  mercy,  who, 
by  her  soothing  presence  and  p>atient  watching,  is  doing 
all  that  a  few  years  ago  gave  Florence  Nightingale  so  en 
viable  a  name  throughout  the  civilized  world.  All  honor 
to  the  fair  sex  for  their  patriotic  devotion  and  substantial 
aid  in  this  hour  of  our  country's  trial !  But  what  shall  we 
say  of  their  erring  sisters  of  the  South,  who  have  so  far  for 
gotten  what  belongs  to  the  female  character  as  to  disgrace 
themselves  by  insults  to  our  soldiers  and  by  other  con 
duct  most  unbecoming  their  sex  ?  Should  they  be  treated 
as  ladies  ?  I  think  not.  They  are  unworthy  of  the  name. 
For  my  own  part,  I  think  General  Butler  deserves  great 
credit  in  setting  an  example  of  rigid  punishment  for  this 
class  of  persons.  By  this  I  would  not  be  understood  as 
exactly  approving  the  phraseology  of  his  now  celebrated 
order  on  this  subject;  not  that  the  females  in  question  re 
ceive  more  punishment  than  they  really  deserve  by  the  odi 
ous  comparison  conveyed  by  its  language,  but  it  is  open  to 
objection  on  the  ground  that  it  gives  his  enemies  and  the 
enemies  of  the  Union  an  opportunity  so  eagerly  seized  upon 
by  them  of  misrepresenting  its  true  intent,  and  thus  ex 
citing  unjust  prejudice.  If  a  woman  unsexes  and  makes  of 
herself  a  devil,  I  know  of  no  reason  why  she  should  not  be 
treated  accordingly.  Besides,  it  is  an  insult  to  all  deserving 
the  title,  to  speak  of  such  a  female  as  a  u  lady ;"  and  so  far 
as  I  have  heard  the  opinion  of  ladies  upon  the  order  in 
question,  they  have  been  decidedly  in  its  favor.  That  it 
would  be  misconstrued  by  the  rebels  might  have  been  an 
ticipated  ;  but  there  is  something  ludicrous  in  the  exhibi 
tion  which  grave  members  of  the  British  Parliament  made 


ADDRESS  OF  HOEATIO  KING  ON  THE  WAR.          79 

about  this  matter,  and  I  am  not  surprised  to  observe  that 
this  display  of  holy  indignation  on  their  part  regarding  this 
and  other  acts  of  our  officers  has  furnished  a  theme  for  our 
American  Punch  which  has  been  well  improved.  Brother 
Jonathan,  long,  lank,  and  saucy,  stands  leaning  upon  his 
musket,  a  small  black  speck  appearing  upon  one  side  of 
his  nose,  while  John  Bull,  beef-fed  and  pursy,  with  cane  in 
hand,  very  pompously  calls  his  attention  to  this  slight  speck, 
apparently  without  the  remotest  thought  of  his  own  nasal 
organ,  which  presents  itself  a  perfect  blossom  of  blotches. 

But  we  can  afford  to  allow  the  British  Government  and 
the  British  people  to  entertain  any  views  and  make  any 
comments  they  please  in  regard  to  our  management  of  the 
war,  provided  they  will  keep  on  their  own  side  of  the  water. 
We  cannot,  however,  but  feel  humiliated  for  England  when 
we  see  her  so  ready  to  extend  all  the  aid  she  dares  to  give 
to  the  rebels,  thereby  plainly  showing  that  she  is  not  only 
desirous  of  witnessing  the  downfall  of  our  Government, 
but  the  establishment  of  a  Southern  oligarchy,  whose  foun 
dation  corner-stone  is  slavery.  The  Queen,  I  am  happy  to 
see,  steadily  maintains  her  declared  purpose  to  observe  neu 
trality  with  reference  to  our  domestic  concerns.  I  entertain 
for  her  a  high  respect,  and  if  she  consults  the  happiness  of 
her  own  people  and  that  of  her  amiable  son,  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  who  is  to  succeed  her  on  the  throne,  she  will  never 
allow  of  any  active  interference,  which  would  be  certain  to 
bring  on  a  war  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain. 

"  Whom  the  gods  would  destroy  they  first  make  mad." 
The  conspirators  confidently  counted  both  on  foreign  aid  and 
on  division  in  the  free  States.  Hitherto  they  have  received 
less  of  foreign  assistance  than  they  thought  themselves 
sure  of  ere  they  plunged  the  South  into  revolution,  and 
they  have  been  almost  wholly  disappointed  in  respect  to 
division  at  the  North.  They  have  been  equally  at  fault  in 
the  estimate  they  had  formed  of  the  resources  of  the  loyal 
States  and  of  the  courage  of  our  citizen  soldiers,  especially 


80  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

of  the  Northern  and  Middle  sections  of  the  Union.  It  may 
be  reasonably  doubted  whether  they  would  have  ventured 
on  rebellion  had  they  possessed  correct  information  on  all 
these  points.  But  this  was  not  possible,  and,  having  care 
fully  calculated  their  own  strength,  which,  it  must  be  ad 
mitted,  we  have  ourselves  underrated,  and  trusting  to  their 
erroneous  judgment  on  these  points,  they  rushed  madly 
into  revolution. 

Nevertheless,  if  the  contest  is  prolonged  many  months 
longer,  there  is  great  danger  that  their  calculations  respect 
ing  foreign  interference  and  division  among  ourselves  may 
yet  be  realized.  It  behooves  us,  therefore,  to  be  thoroughly 
united  and  to  extend  our  utmost  aid  to  the  Government, 
thus  to  secure  a  vigorous  prosecution  and  speedy  termina 
tion  of  the  war.  Let  us  keep  in  view  the  fact  that  we  are 
fighting,  not  for  the  abolition  of  slavery,  but  for  the  pres 
ervation  of  the  Constitution  and  the  Union.  The  danger 
is  that  the  very  division  on  which  the  rebels  counted  may 
yet  be  produced,  and  everything  lost  by  the  reckless  and 
determined  pressure  of  certain  extremists  in  the  free  States 
for  a  proclamation  of  immediate  emancipation  of  the  slaves 
throughout  the  South,  and  for  the  arming  of  the  slaves 
to  fight  against  their  masters.  Will  not  this  class  of  our 
citizens  take  warning  in  season  and  cease  embarrassing  the 
Government?  The  President  has  repeatedly  announced  his 
policy  on  this  subject,  and  it  is  such  as  commends  itself  to 
the  favor  of  every  intelligent  and  well-disposed  friend  of 
the  Union.  If  slavery  suffers  or  is  totally  destroyed  as  a 
consequence  of  the  war,  no  matter ;  this  is  all  right,  and 
the  slave-owners  must  look  for  redress  to  those  who  com 
menced  the  war.  Wherever  the  slaves  can  be  employed 
to  advantage  as  laborers  in  the  army,  it  should  of  course  be 
done,  but  to  think  of  ever  raising  the  negro  to  a  social 
equality  with  the  white  man  is  arrant  folly. 

I  was  struck  by  some  remarks  in  a  letter  written  a  few 
weeks  ago  by  the  Honorable  George  E.  Badger,  of  North 


ADDRESS  OF  HORATIO  KING  ON  THE  WAR.         81 

Carolina,  and  late  United  States  Senator  from  that  State. 
It  is  addressed  to  Honorable  Mr.  Ely,  member  of  Congress 
from  New  York.  He  says  : 

"  Mr.  Ely,  think  a  moment.  We  have  been  invaded  by 
an  enemy  as  unrelenting  and  ferocious  as  the  hordes  under 
Attila  and  Alaric,  who  overran  the  Roman  Empire.  He 
comes  to  rob  us,  to  murder  our  people,  to  insult  our  women, 
to  emancipate  our  slaves,  and  is  now  preparing  to  add  a  new 
element  to  this  most  atrocious  as^ression  and  involve  us  in 

OO 

the  direful  horrors  of  a  civil  war.  He  proposes  nothing 
less  than  our  entire  destruction,  the  total  desolation  of  our 
country,  universal  emancipation, — not  from  love  of  the 
slave,  but  from  hatred  to  us ;  i  to  crush  us/  to  '  wipe  out 
the  South,'  to  involve  us  in  irremediable  misery  and  hope 
less  ruin." 

Now,  so  far  as  the  United  States  Government  is  con 
cerned,  I  would  ask,  Is  there  in  all  this  really  one  word  of 
truth  ?  Let  us  see.  In  one  sense  it  is  true,  the  armies  of 
the  Union  have  i  invaded'  the  South.  Chivalrous  South 
Carolina  pronounced  it  an  "  invasion"  when  the  Govern 
ment  sought  to  convey,  by  a  merchant  steamer,  food  to  the 
famishing  little  garrison  at  Fort  Sumter,  and  fired  upon 
that  vessel.  So,  when  the  President  first  called  for  troops 
to  protect  the  capital,  the  secessionists  of  Maryland  had 
the  effrontery  to  proclaim  that  their  State  was  "  invaded" 
by  the  transit  of  these  troops  to  Washington;  and  our 
brave  soldiers  were  stoned  and  shot  down  like  dogs  in 
the  streets  of  Baltimore,  so  that,  when  they  reached  Wash 
ington,  many  of  them  were  bloody  and  bruised  and 
maimed,  as  I  saw  them  in  the  city  hospital  the  next  day, 
while  the  lifeless  remains  of  others  were  returned  to  their 
friends  in  Massachusetts,  and  others  still  left  to  die  in  Balti 
more. 

And  so,  too,  the  Virginia  rebels  cried  "  invasion"  when  a 
detachment  of  our  army  moved  across  the  river  to  Arlington 
Heights  and  Alexandria,  taking  position  there  as  the  best 

6  " 


82  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

possible  means  of  preventing  the  rebels  from  destroying 
the  city;  and,  in  the  act  of  removing  a  secession  flag  from 
one  of  the  public  houses  in  Alexandria,  the  brave  Colonel 
Ellsworth  fell  dead  with  a  bullet  through  his  body  from 
the  gun  of  a  rebel,  who,  thanks  to  young  Brownell,  in 
stantly  paid  the  penalty  of  his  crime  with  his  own  life. 

In  this  sense,  and  this  only,  has  the  South  been  "  in 
vaded."  Invasion  is  a  hostile  entrance  upon  the  territory 
or  premises  of  another,  and  no  such  invasion  has  been 
made  by  the  United  States  forces,  who  go,  not  as  enemies 
nor  with  hostile  intent,  but  as  friends  equally  of  the  North 
and  the  South,  to  assert  the  rights  of  all  under  the  Consti 
tution  and  to  uphold  the  flag  of  the  Union.  If  the  people 
of  the  South  would  lay  down  their  arms  and  submit  to  the 
Constitution  and  the  laws,  not  another  gun  would  be  dis 
charged  nor  sword  unsheathed  against  them. 

It  is  untrue  that  either  the  loyal  citizens  or  the  soldiers 
of  the  Union  are  "  unrelenting  and  ferocious"  toward  the 
South.  On  the  contrary,  the  almost  entire  absence  of  this 
feeling  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  features  of  this  lam 
entable  contest. 

They  do  not  go  to  "  rob,"  nor  "  murder,"  to  "  insult  their 
women,"  nor,  as  a  primary  object,  "  to  emancipate  their 
slaves."  One  of  the  most  serious  complaints  against  our 
army,  heretofore,  has  been  that,  instead  of  subsisting  our 
troops  as  far  as  possible  upon  the  rebels, — thus  making 
the  latter  bear  a  part  of  the  expense  required  to  subdue 
them, — our  generals  have  kept  guard  over  their  property 
while  our  troops  have  been  suffering  for  the  actual  neces 
saries  of  life.  To  speak  of  the  act  of  our  soldiers  in  taking 
the  lives  of  rebels  in  arms  as  "  murder"  is  a  misnomer ;  and 
as  to  "  insulting  their  women" — this  charge  has  already  been 
disposed  of.  Neither  is  it  true  that  our  Government,  or 
any  considerable  number  of  our  citizens,  are  for  "  universal 
emancipation."  Let  the  South  return  to  its  loyalty  to-day, 
and  not  a  slave  need  be  set  free  without  the  consent  of  his 


ADDRESS  OF  HORATIO  KING  ON  THE  WAR.          83 

master.  Let  the  seceded  States  wheel  again  into  line,  and 
instantly  they  will  resume  all  their  rights  as  sovereign  and 
independent  States  under  the  Constitution. 

No,  no,  Mr.  Badger,  "  think  a  moment,"  and  see  if  you 
are  not  charging  the  United  States  Government  and  the 
brave  troops  who  are  fighting  for  your  liberty  and  that  of 
your  posterity,  as  well  as  ours,  with  entertaining  sentiments 
regarding  emancipation  which  are  common  only  to  a  small 
party  of  extremists  in  the  free  States.  I  exceedingly  regret 
that  you  have  even  this  much  upon  which  to  found  your 
charge,  and  I  would  fain  hope  that,  discovering  from  your 
own  misconceptions  the  great  injury  they  are  inflicting  on  the 
Union  cause  by  their  fanatical  course,  this  party  of  extremists 
will  see  the  propriety  of  hereafter  supporting  the  sound  policy 
of  the  national  administration,  instead  of  doing  all  in  their 
power  to  embarrass  and  turn  it  from  the  even  tenor  of  its  way. 

My  friends,  I  appear  before  you  in  no  partisan  spirit,  for, 
until  the  rebellion  is  put  down,  I  desire  to  recognize  no  party 
at  the  North  other  than  the  one  great  party  of  the  Union. 
It  will  then  be  time  enough  to  look  after  party  organizations, 
and,  if  need  be,  settle  up  old  scores.  He  who  is  not  for  us 
is  against  us.  I  can  hardly  conceive  it  possible,  and  yet  I 
am  told  there  are  some,  even  in  this  State,  who  actually 
sympathize  with  the  rebellion  and  rejoice  in  its  success. 
We  have  in  Washington  many  persons  of  this  class, — some, 
I  have  no  doubt,  still  subsisting  on  the  bounty  of  the  Govern 
ment  ;  but  being,  as  I  believe  without  exception,  of  Southern 
birth  and  generally  careful  to  avoid  exposure  to  arrest,  they 
have  been  tolerated  there  with  a  degree  of  patience,  I  must 
say,  scarcely  compatible  with  public  safety.  Occasionally 
one  has  been  sent  to  the  old  capitol  prison  for  a  short  time, 
and  with  effect  decidedly  salutary,  not  only  upon  himself  but 
upon  all  his  sympathizing  friends  in  the  city.  Some  should 
long  since  have  been  made  to  join  those  of  their  brethren 
who  took  themselves  off  to  Richmond  before  the  commence 
ment  of  hostilities,  in  the  fond  expectation  of  soon  returning 


84  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

in  triumph ;  but  hitherto  the  Government  has  treated  the 
great  body  of  these  rebel  sympathizers  with  marked  leniency, 
so  they  have  been  suffered  to  remain  undisturbed.  With 
Christian  fortitude  and  patience  we  can  bear  this  in  the 
border  States  and  the  District  of  Columbia ;  but  in  the  free 
States  the  Government  should  make  short  work  of  them.  I 
care  not  if  not  only  the  habeas  corpus  be  suspended  for  their 
benefit,  but  I  am  not  sure  it  would  not  be  a  wholesome 
remedy  and  excellent  caution,  here  and  there,  to  have 
another  kind  of  suspension  practised  upon  them.  I  know 
that  all  such  traitors,  and  they  are  nothing  but  traitors,  are 
professedly  great  sticklers  for  the  Constitution.  They  are 
awfully  shocked  at  any  act  of  the  Government,  no  matter 
how  necessary  to  self-preservation,  which  they  may  regard 
as  in  the  least  extra-Constitutional ;  while  at  the  same  time 
they  have  no  hesitation  in  cheering  on  the  bogus  President 
and  his  faithful  minions  in  their  efforts  utterly  to  annihilate 
the  Constitution  and  spread  destruction  throughout  the  land. 
Such  creatures  would  dance  over  the  graves  of  their  mothers ; 
they  should  be  branded  writh  infamy,  and  by  means  either 
of  bolts  or  hemp  speedily  put  beyond  the  pale  of  decent 
society. 

But  there  certainly  can  be  few,  if  any,  such  in  this  State. 
The  atmosphere  is  too  pure  for  them.  Judging  from  the 
alacrity  with  which  the  noble  sons  of  Maine,  led  on  by  our 
distinguished  generals, — Howard,  Jameson,  Berry,  Prince, 
— and  other  able  officers,  have  sprung  to  arms,  it  is  difficult 
to  believe  that  any  among  you  are  so  base  as  to  harbor  even 
the  remotest  thought  of  sympathy  with  treason.  One  would 
suppose  that  every  heart  would  thrill  with  joy  and  pride  at 
the  glorious  spectacle  of  our  brave  troops  thus  marching  on 
to  duty  and  to  victory.  I  shall  never  forget  the  pride  and 
delight  with  which  I  hailed  their  first  appearance  in  Wash 
ington,  at  a  time  when  it  seemed  that  any  night  the  rebels 
might  bring  their  guns  to  bear  upon  and  shell  the  city. 
Honor,  all  honor,  say  I,  to  our  brave  officers  and  soldiers. 


EARLY  STAGES  OF  THE  REBELLION.  85 

Let  us  strain  every  nerve  to  strengthen  and  encourage  them 
in  their  holy  work  of  restoring  the  Union.  I  have  said  they 
are  marching  on  to  victory.  This  cannot,  must  not  be 
doubted.  The  Union  must  be  preserved.  Slavery  or  no 
slavery,  the  people  of  the  United  States  are  one  family,  the 
territory  they  occupy  is  their  own  country,  and  this  country 
can  have  but  one  supreme  government, — the  Government 
of  the  old  Union, — whose  Star-spangled  Banner  shall  ever 
continue  a  token  of  joy  to  all  lovers  of  freedom  throughout 
the  world. 


CHAPTER    X. 

REMINISCENCES    OF   THE    EARLY    STAGES    OF   THE    REBELLION. 

Few  Persons  Apprehend  Serious  Trouble— Only  a  Small  Number  of 
Active  Union  Men  in  Washington — Extracts  of  a  Fierce  Letter 
from  John  D.  Ashmore,  Member  of  Congress  from  South  Carolina — 
Letters  from  Edward  Everett  and  ex-President  Pierce — Alarm  now 
in  the  City — Resolution  of  the  Senate  appointing  a  Committee  to 
Investigate  Cause — Testimony  of  General  Scott,  Jacob  Thompson, 
the  Mayor,  Governor  Hicks,  of  Maryland,  and  others — Letters  of 
ex-President  Buchanan — Star  of  the  West — Sharp  Correspondence 
between  Holt  and  Thompson — Resignation  of  Members  of  the  Cabinet 
— Senator  Yulee's  Threats — Midnight  Interview  with  General  Scott. 

IN  recurring  to  the  horrors  of  the  war  and  of  the  few 
months  preceding  it,  as  experienced  by  us  here  at  the  capital, 
it  has  often  occurred  to  me  that,  if  possible,  I  suffered  more 
from  the  dread  apprehension  of  the  impending  conflict,  and 
the  shock  upon  shock  at  the  seizure  of  the  forts,  arsenals, 
custom-houses,  post-offices,  and  other  government  property 
by  the  rebels  in  the  last  months  of  President  Buchanan's 
administration,  than  at  any  subsequent  period  during  the 
war.  No  sooner  was  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  announced 
— and  it  was  known  throughout  the  country  on  the  evening 
of  election-day,  the  6th  of  November,  1860 — than  the  threat 
ening  signs  appeared  in  all  parts  of  the  South,  and  the 


86  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

i 

secessionists  everywhere,  urged  on  by  the  Constitution  news 
paper  of  this  city, — nominally  under  the  editorship  of  Wil 
liam  M.  Browne,  an  Englishman,  but  really  the  mouth-piece 
and  under  the  direction  of  the  leaders  of  the  rebellion, — set 
to  work  actively  to  effect  a  withdrawal  of  all  the  slave  States 
from  the  Union. 

This  newspaper,  having  been  regarded  as  the  organ  of  the 
administration,  still  sustained  this  character  to  a  greater  or 
less  extent,  particularly  as  it  was  the  continued  recipient  of 
the  Government  advertisements,  which  furnished  its  prin 
cipal  means  of  support ;  and  this  naturally  gave  rise  to  doubt 
as  to  the  course  the  administration  intended  to  pursue  in  the 
momentous  crisis  now  at  hand.  But  Messrs.  Cobb,  Floyd, 
and  Thompson  were  yet  members  of  the  Cabinet,  the 
Southern  element  was  greatly  in  the  ascendant  here  gen 
erally,  and  the  time  had  not  come  for  so  decisive  a  step  even 
as  to  withdraw  from  that  paper  the  government  patronage, 
notwithstanding  I  know  that  soon  after  the  election  it  became 
a  source  of  regret  and  mortification  to  many  here  that  such 
a  sheet  should  be  allowed  to  draw  its  main  sustenance  from 
the  Government  it  was  seeking  to  destroy.  When  this  pat 
ronage,  some  weeks  afterward,  was  finally  withheld  by  order 
of  the  President,  the  paper  immediately  ceased  to  exist ;  but 
so  long  as  it  was  continued,  it  not  only  operated  to  the  injury 
of  the  administration,  but  did  great  harm  also  to  the  Union 
cause  North  and  South,  for  the  reason  before  mentioned,  that 
the  public  had  come  so  generally  to  regard  it  as  the  organ 
of  the  administration. 

A  most  remarkable  fact  of  this  period — a  fact  which,  in 
making  up  a  judgment  upon  President  Buchanan's  adminis 
tration  of  affairs  at  this  time,  should  not  be  forgotten — was, 
that  few  persons  comparatively,  either  in  the  North  or  West, 
appeared  to  apprehend  any  serious  trouble,  regarding  the 
threats  and  movements  of  the  secessionists  as  only  a  repe 
tition — in  an  aggravated  form,  to  be  sure — of  what  we  had 
seen  on  former  occasions,  and  all  for  political  effect,  Nor 


EARLY  STAGES  OF  THE  REBELLION.  87 

was  this  feeling  confined  to  one  party :  it  pervaded  all  the 
free  States.  Hence,  while  the  disunionists  were  everywhere 
active,  and  endeavoring  to  disseminate  the  idea  that  they 
were  not  only  in  favor  with  the  administration,  but  with  the 
Democratic  party  at  large,  the  great  body  of  the  true  friends 
of  the  administration  stood  aloof,  never  coming  near  the 
President  or  offering  counsel.  How  well  I  recollect  that  all 
through  the  month  of  November  I  thought  almost  every 
body  in  the  free  States  was  asleep.  Here  we  were,  a  small 
number  then  of  active  Union  men,  in  the  very  hotbed  of 
the  conspiracy,  and  surrounded  by  a  host  of  bold  and  deter 
mined  disunionists  bent  on  "  rule  or  ruin."  The  great  mass 
of  those  here  who  at  heart  were  true  to  the  Union  were 
passive  rather  than  otherwise,  because  they  did  not  care  to 
expose  themselves  to  the  charge  of  "  Black  Republicanism," 
which  was  then  the  potent  missile  levelled  by  the  secession 
ists  against  every  person  who  dared  openly  to  oppose  them. 
Was  it  strange,  therefore,  that  any  one,  seeing  and  feeling 
the  real  danger  ahead,  should  have  reached  out  after  help  ? 
that  with  such  feelings  one  should  cast  around  for  patriotic 
statesmen  to  come  to  the  rescue  ?  Humble  as  I  was,  occupy 
ing  then  a  subordinate  position  in  the  Post-Office  Depart 
ment,  so  impressed  was  I  by  the  appalling  aspect  of  affairs, 
that  I  seemed  to  be  impelled  by  a  power  beyond  myself  to 
"  cry  aloud  and  spare  not ;"  and,  departing  from  my  previous 
rule  of  appropriate  modesty, — to  which  it  may  be  thought 
I  have  not  returned, — I  made  bold  to  address  earnest  appeals 
to  distinguished  men,  far  and  near,  to  exert  their  influence 
toward  averting  the  threatened  outbreak.  The  following 
extract  of  a  letter  from  a  Southern  member  of  Congress 
may  be  taken  as  a  specimen  of  the  encouragement  I  received 
from  that  quarter.  It  bears  date  November  5, 1860,  the  day 
before  the  Presidential  election  : 

"  To  the  latter  part  of  your  letter  I  reply  frankly.  On  my  entrance  into 
Congress  it  was  as  a  constitutional  Union-loving  man.  From  the  days  of 
my  childhood  I  have  loved  the  Union, — during  youth  and  manhood  I 


88  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

still  loved  it.  ...  If  Lincoln  be  elected,  as  I  have  no  doubt  he  will  be, 
and  the  South  submit  to  his  inauguration,  then  are  they,  in  my  judgment, 
cowards  and  traitors  to  their  own  rights,  unworthy  of  any  other  condition 
than  that  that  awaits  them, — inferiors,  provincialists,  and  subjects.  Lin 
coln  will  never  be  the  President  of  thirty-three  confederate  States.  Men 
like  myself,  who  for  a  lifetime  have  fought  the  extreme  ultraisms  of  the 
South  and  the  mad  fanaticism  of  the  North,  will  not  permit  Abe  Lin 
coln's  banner,  inscribed  with '  higher  law,'  '  negro  equality,'  '  irrepressible 
conflict,'  and  '  final  emancipation,'  to  wave  over  us.  We  have  and  do 
deserve  a  more  glorious  destiny.  .  .  .  Three  hundred  thousand  swords  are 
now  ready  to  leap  from  their  scabbards  in  support  of  a  Southern  con 
federacy.  Fort  Moultrie  will  be  in  the  hands  of  the  South  on  the  morn 
ing  of  the  fourth  day  of  March  next.  Our  women  and  children  are 
ready  and  eager  for  the  conflict,  and  would  kick  us  out  of  our  houses  if 
we  basely  and  tamely  yield  again." 

The  above  was  evidently  not  intended,  nor  was  it  re 
garded,  as  strictly  a  private  letter.  All  such  information, 
when  received,  was  promptly  communicated  to  those  in 
authority.  It  was  important,  of  course,  that  the  President 
himself  should  not  only  be  kept  advised  of  the  actions  of 
the  disunionists,  but  that  he  should  discountenance  their 
nefarious  proceedings,  and  that  his  hands  should  be  strength 
ened  by  support  from  patriotic  citizens  everywhere  ;  and  to 
this  end  it  was  the  desire  to  have  placed  before  him,  as  far 
as  possible,  the  opinions  and  advice  of  citizens  in  whose 
judgment  he  might  confide.  Here  is  a  letter  to  me  from 
the  Hon.  Edward  Everett,  who,  it  wrill  be  recollected,  had 
just  passed  through  the  canvass  as  candidate  for  Vice- 
President  on  the  conservative  ticket,  with  the  Hon.  John 
Bell  for  President : 

"  BOSTON,  27th  November,  1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  share  the  opinion  of  your  correspondent  as  to  the 
very  critical  state  of  public  affairs,  and  I  feel  it  to  be  the  duty  of  every 
good  citizen,  by  word  and  deed,  to  contribute  his  mite,  however  small,  to 
rescue  the  country  from  impending  peril, — by  far  the  greatest  that  ever 
threatened  it. 

"The  cause  assigned  by  your  correspondent  as  that  which  prevents 
Union  men  from  affording  the  President  their  support  and  counsel  in  this 
crisis  will  not  prevent  my  doing  it,  but  ordinary  self  respect  under  the 


EARLY  STAGES  OF  THE  REBELLION.  89 

notorious  circumstances  of  the  case  requires  that  my  views  should  not  be 
obtruded  upon  him  unasked.  Whenever  they  are  specially  invited  by  the 
President  himself,  or  any  one  in  his  confidence,  they  will  be  cheerfully 
and  respectfully  given. 

"  I  remain,  my  dear  sir,  with  much  regard, 
"  Very  truly  yours, 

"EDWARD  EVERETT." 

The  following  letter  is  from  ex-President  Pierce.  Imme 
diately  on  its  receipt  I  called  on  Mr.  Secretary  Thompson, 
who  with  his  own  pen  prepared  a  preface  agreeably  to  Gen 
eral  Pierce's  suggestion,  and  the  letter  to  the  Secretary 
appeared  in  the  Constitution  of  the  next  morning : 

"  AXDOVER,  MASS.,  November  28, 1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  have  received  your  kind,  earnest  letter,  and  par 
ticipate  strongly  in  your  apprehensions.  To  my  vision  the  political 
horizon  shuts  down  close  and  darkly.  It  may  be  that  light  is  to  break 
through  somewhere,  but  I  do  not  discern  the  quarter  whence  it  is  to  come. 
I  had  occasion  to  write  a  friendly  letter  to  Secretary  Thompson  (Interior) 
a  day  or  two  since,  and  expressed  to  him  briefly  my  convictions  and  fears 
and  hopes  in  relation  to  the  present  state  of  public  affairs.  I  did  not 
expect  that  letter  to  be  published,  but  the  blackness  is  gathering  so  fast 
that  if  anything  can  be  done  to  save  our  glorious  Union  it  must  be  done 
speedily,  and,  in  my  judgment,  at  the  North  chiefly.  If  you  call  on  the 
Secretary  he  will  show  you  that  letter,  and  if  he  thinks  the  publication 
of  it  would  be  useful,  he  can  use  it  as  he  pleases.  The  truth  must  appear 
that  it  was  written  in  the  course  of  friendly  correspondence,  and  not  with 
a  view  to  publication.  Among  intelligent,  reflecting  men,  alarm  is  evi 
dently  increasing  here  daily.  One  decisive  step  in  the  way  of  coercion 
will  drive  out  all  the  slave-labor  States.  Of  that  I  entertain  no  doubt. 
My  suggestion  about  the  tone  and  temper  of  Congress,  and  the  importance 
of  temperate  words  and  actions  might  possibly  have  some  degree  of  good 
influence,  and  there  is,  perhaps,  more  hope  that  the  letter  might  be  ser 
viceable  just  at  this  juncture  at  the  North  ;  but  it  was  hastily  written, 
and  my  friend,  the  Secretary,  must  judge.  If  you  call  on  him,  show  him 
this  note. 

"  In  haste,  your  friend, 

"FRANKLIN  PIERCE." 

It  was  all  to  no  purpose :  the  tide  rolled  on.  Congress 
soon  assembled,  and  became  the  arena  of  the  fiercest  dec- 


90  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

lamation  and  conflict.  Everything  like  coercion  on  the 
part  of  the  general  Government  was  denounced  and  re 
sisted.  Mr.  Hindman,  of  Arkansas,  said  in  the  House,  "  I 
am  willing  to  give  gentlemen  a  chance  to  try  steel  if  they 
prefer  it."  This  was  in  debate  on  the  bill  to  amend  the 
acts  of  1795  and  1807,  so  as  to  authorize  the  President 
to  accept  the  services  of  volunteers,  etc.,  called  a  "  force 
bill."  "  This  bill,"  said  the  chairman  having  it  in  charge, 
"  only  comes  up  in  the  morning  hour."  Mr.  Cochrane,  of 
New  York,  replied,  "  If  you  pass  this  bill  it  will  be  the 
mourning  hour  of  this  republic."  "  A  most  ill-timed,  un 
wise,  and  iniquitous  measure,"  said  Mr.  Botts, — not  an 
extreme  man, — from  Virginia.  "  If  there  be  any  hope  of 
a  restoration  of  peace,"  said  Mr.  Babcock,  from  the  same 
State,  "  it  must  be  in  the  defeat  of  these  force  bills."  And 
they  were  finally  all  defeated. 

Treason  was  openly  proclaimed  in  the  Senate,  if  not 
in  the  House ;  State  after  State  "  seceded,"  and  the  mem 
bers  and  senators  thereof,  with  mock  solemnity,  resigned 
their  seats  and  withdrew  from  the  halls.  The  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  Howell  Cobb,  resigned  on  the  10th  of 
December;  the  Secretary  of  State,  General  Cass,  on  the 
14th ;  and  the  Secretary  of  War,  J.  B.  Floyd,  on  the  29th 
of  that  month,  followed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior, 
Jacob  Thompson,  on  the  8th  of  January. 

Alarm  continued  to  increase,  and  on  the  26th  of  January, 
1861,  the  following  resolution  was  referred  to  the  select 
committee  of  five  appointed  by  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  on  the  9th  of  that  month,  Hon.  W.  A.  Howard,  of 
Michigan,  being  its  chairman  : 

"  Eesolved,  That  the  select  committee  of  five  be  instructed  to  inquire 
whether  any  secret  organization  hostile  to  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  exists  in  the  District  of  Columbia ;  and,  if  so,  whether  any  official 
or  employe  of  the  city  of  Washington,  or  any  employes  or  officers  of  the 
Federal  Government,  in  the  executive  or  judicial  departments,  are  mem 
bers  thereof." 


EARLY  STAGES  OF  THE  REBELLION.  91 

The  committee  say  that  they  entered  upon  the  investiga 
tion  under  a  deep  sense  of  the  importance  and  the  intrinsic 
difficulty  of  the  inquiry.  They  took  the  testimony  of  a 
great  many  persons,  including  that  of  General  Scott,  ex- 
Secretary  Jacob  Thompson,  Colonel  Berret,  mayor,  Dr. 
Blake,  Commissioner  of  Public  Buildings,  and  Governor 
Hicks  and  ex-Governor  Lowe,  of  Maryland.  I  had  occa 
sion,  several  years  ago,  to  prepare  for  one  of  the  public 
journals  a  synopsis  of  the  report  and  testimony.  It  is  a 
curious  book,  especially  when  viewed  in  the  light  of  subse 
quent  events.  The  mayor  was  the  first  witness  called  to 
the  stand.  lie  said  he  had  not  "  been  able  to  ascertain  the 
slightest  ground  for  any  apprehension  of  any  foray  or  raid 
upon  the  city  of  Washington."  He  knew  about  an  organ 
ization  called  the  "National  Volunteers,"  which  he  said 
was  not  "  a  political  organization ;"  that  it  was  composed 
of  citizens  whom  he  knew  to  be  "  not  only  respectable,"  but 
a  great  many  of  them  "  stake-holding  citizens,  who  would 
scorn  to  do  anything  that  would  bring  reproach  upon  the 
city."  Nevertheless,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  the  larger  part 
of  them,  including  their  "  senior  officer,"  left  Washington 
and  joined  the  rebellion. 

The  Commissioner  of  Public  Buildings  also  said  he 
"  could  see  no  real  ground  to  apprehend  danger,"  but  that 
he  had  taken  care  to  see  that  the  Capitol  was  not  blown 
up ;  that  examinations  were  made  every  night,  "  by  going 
through  it,  up  and  down,  all  through  the  cellar  and  every 
place,"  and  that  in  the  daytime  he  had  his  men  placed 
about  all  the  main  doors,  "  so  that  they  might  know  what 
came  in  and  what  went  out." 

Ex-Governor  Lowe,  who  afterward,  I  think,  left  his 
State  to  assist  in  the  rebellion,  denied  any  knowledge  of 
an  organization  in  the  District  of  Columbia  "  having  for  its 
object  the  taking  or  holding  any  of  the  public  property 
here,  as  against  the  United  States;"  but  he  said,  "  I  have 
not  the  slightest  doubt  that,  if  Maryland  does  secede,  she 


92  TUENING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

will  claim  her  rights  here,  and  I  will  advocate  them."  "  So 
far  as  the  possession  of  the  District  is  concerned  ?"  a  mem 
ber  inquired.  He  answered,  "Yes,  sir, — peaceably,  if  pos 
sible, — forcibly  only  as  a  last  resort, — that  is,  provided  Mary 
land  shall  resume  her  State  sovereignty." 

Mr.  Jacob  Thompson  said,  "  Soon  after  the  Presidential 
election  it  was  a  question  frequently  discussed  by  individ 
uals  in  my  presence,  in  which  discussion  I  participated,  as 
to  the  mode  by  which  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
could  be  defeated,  or,  in  other  words,  how  the  rights  of  the 
South  could  be  maintained  in  the  Union.  I  heard  some  dis 
cussion  as  to  organizing  a  force  by  which  his  inauguration 
could  be  prevented,"  but  he  believed  this  was  now  given  up. 

Dr.  Cornelius  Boyle,  "  senior  officer"  of  the  "  National 
Volunteers,"  said  he  knew  there  was  no  unlawful  purpose 
whatever  entertained  by  that  organization;  that  it  was 
nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  military  company,  numbering 
between  two  hundred  and  fifty  and  two  hundred  and 
eighty  names,  and  that  it  was  not  a  secret  organization. 
He  admitted  that  he  drafted  and  presented  a  set  of  resolu 
tions,  the  first  of  which  declared  that  "  we  will  stand  by 
and  defend  the  South,  and  that  under  no  circumstances 
will  we  assume  a  position  of  hostility  to  her  interests;" 
and  the  fourth  that  "  we  will  act,  in  the  event  of  the  with 
drawal  of  Maryland  and  Virginia  from  the  Union,  in  such 
manner  as  shall  best  secure  ourselves  and  those  States  from 
the  evils  of  a  foreign  and  hostile  government  within  and 
near  their  borders." 

Cypriani  Fernandini  and  0.  K.  Hillard,  of  Baltimore, 
testified  that  there  were  military  organizations  in  that  city, 
numbering,  the  latter  believed,  not  less  than  six  thousand, 
whose  object  was  to  prevent  armed  bodies  of  men  from 
passing  through  Maryland  to  the  capital.  Philip  P.  Daw- 
son,  of  Baltimore,  stated  that  he  had  it  from  good  authority 
that  it  was  their  object  also  to  make  an  attack  upon  the 
capital  and  prevent  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Lincoln. 


EAELY  STAGES  OF  THE  KEBELLION.  93 

General  Scott's  testimony  tended  to  show  that  there  was 
great  concern  for  the  capital  in  almost  every  part  of  the 
country.  Many  letters  were  received  by  him  daily,  warn 
ing  him  to  put  the  city  in  a  state  of  defence.  Some  of 
these  professed  to  give  the  plans  of  the  conspirators,  and 
pointed  out  means  of  detection.  He  said,  "  These  letters, 
from  the  broad  surface  whence  they  come,  either  prove  or 
seem  to  indicate  a  conspiracy  for  one  of  two  purposes  at 
least, — either  for  mischief  or  creating  alarm."  One  writer, 
signing  himself  "  Union,"  from  South  Carolina,  concluded 
his  letter,  "  Would  give  my  name,  but  if  found  out  would 
have  to  swing" 

Governor  Hicks,  on  the  3d  of  January,  issued  an  address 
to  the  people  of  Maryland,  in  which  he  said : 

"  I  have  been  repeatedly  warned  by  persons  having  the  opportunity  to 
know,  and  who  are  entitled  to  the  highest  confidence,  that  the  secession 
leaders  in  Washington  have  resolved  that  the  Border  States,  and  espe 
cially  Maryland,  shall  be  precipitated  into  secession  with  the  Cotton 
States  before  the  4th  of  March.  They  have  resolved  to  seize  the  Federal 
capital  and  public  archives,  so  that  they  may  be  in  a  position  to  be  ac 
knowledged  by  foreign  governments  as  the  United  States  ;  and  the  assent 
of  Maryland  is  necessary,  as  the  District  of  Columbia  would  revert  to 
her  in  case  of  a  dissolution  of  the  Union.  The  plan  contemplates  forci 
ble  opposition  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  inauguration,  and  consequently  civil  war 
upon  Maryland  soil,  and  a  transfer  of  its  horrors  from  the  States  which 
are  to  provoke  it." 

Again,  there  had  been  some  interviews  as  well  as  cor 
respondence  between  the  commissioners  of  some  of  the 
Southern  States  and  himself;  and  Governor  Hicks  said 
that  much  of  the  opinion  he  had  formed  in  regard  to  a 
contemplated  movement  such  as  he  had  apprehended  had 
grown  out  of  these  interviews  and  other  corroborative  cir 
cumstances.  One  of  these  commissioners,  Judge  Handy, 
from  Mississippi,  had  said,  among  other  things,  that  Mr. 
Lincoln  and  Mr.  Hamlin  would  never  be  installed  in  office. 
He  had  also  received  letters  from  several  gentlemen,  and 
verbal  statements  from  others  in  whom  he  had  the  fullest 


94  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

confidence,  all  going  to  convince  him  that  he  was  not  mis 
taken  in  his  apprehensions,  although  he  now  thought  that 
the  hostile  organization  referred  to  had  probably  been  dis 
banded.  On  the  14th  of  February  the  committee  made 
their  report,  in  which  they  said,  "  If  the  purpose  was  at 
any  time  entertained  of  forming  an  organization,  secret  or 
open,  to  seize  the  District  of  Columbia,  attack  the  capital, 
or  prevent  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  it  seems  to 
have  been  rendered  contingent  upon  the  secession  of  either 
Maryland  or  Virginia,  or  both,  and  the  sanction  of  these 
States."  They  also  declared  it  as  their  unanimous  opinion 
that  the  evidence  produced  before  them  did  not  prove  the 
existence  of  a  secret  organization,  here  or  elsewhere,  hostile 
to  the  Government,  having  for  its  object,  upon  its  own  re 
sponsibility,  an  attack  upon  the  capital  or  any  of  the  public 
property  here,  or  an  interruption  of  any  of  the  functions  of 
the  Government.  I  nevertheless  believe  that  it  was  the  de 
termination  of  the  conspirators,  if  possible,  to  take  posses 
sion  of  the  capital,  a  determination  depending,  it  is  quite 
probable,  on  the  secession  of  Virginia  and  Maryland,  both 
of  which  States  they  hoped  to  see  unite  their  fortunes  with 
the  "  Southern  Confederacy."  But  Maryland  did  not  come 
up  to  time ;  the  flying  artillery  was  brought  here,  and  it  was 
then  too  late  to  attempt  a  coup  d'etat  for  the  possession  of 
the  capital  and  the  public  archives.  Inasmuch  as  Mr.  Bu 
chanan  refers  to  this  subject  in  one  of  his  letters,  which, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  words,  I  propose  to  give  entire, 
I  will  introduce  it  in  this  place.  It  will  be  observed  that  he 
did  not  apprehend  any  serious  danger  to  the  city,  although 
he  acted  wisely  in  ordering  the  troops  here. 

"WHEATLAND,  April  21,  1861. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  presume,  from  your  letter  to  the  New  York  Times, 
we  shall  not  agree  as  to  the  existence  of  any  serious  danger  to  the  inaugu 
ration  of  Mr.  Lincoln  on  the  4th  of  March,  1861.  The  truth  is,  when  I 
first  heard  the  reports  circulated  in  the  early  part  of  the  previous  session, 
I  kept  my  eye  upon  the  subject  and  had  my  own  means  of  information. 


EARLY  STAGES  OF  THE  REBELLION.  95 

I  had  no  apprehension  of  danger  for  some  time  before  the  report  of  the 
committee,  but  the  stake  was  so  vast  I  yielded  to  the  members  of  the 
Cabinet  and  ordered  the  troops  to  Washington.  Virginia  was  at  that 
time  as  loyal  a  State  as  any  in  the  Union,  and  the  Peace  Convention 
which  she  originated  was  still  in  session.  But  we  need  not  discuss  this 
question.  .  .  .  While  with  you  I  should  be  very  unwilling  to  fall  into 

line  under as  a  leader  of  the^Dgmocratic  party,  yet  I  know  I  shall 

never  be  condemned  to  such  an  ordeal.  I  am  as  firm  and  as  true  a  Demo 
crat  of  the  Jefferson  and  Jackson  school  as  I  have  ever  been  in  my  life. 
The  principles  of  Democracy  grew  out  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  must  endure  as  long  as  that  sacred  instrument.  I  firmly  be 
lieve  that  the  Federal  Government  can  only  be  successfully  administered 
on  these  principles ;  and  although  I  may  not  live  to  see  it,  yet  I  shall  live 
and  die  in  the  hope  that  the  party,  purified  and  refined  by  severe  experi 
ence,  will  yet  be  triumphant.  Whilst  these  are  my  opinions,  I  obtrude 
them  on  no  person,  but,  like  yourself,  have  withdrawn  from  party  poli 
tics.  .  .  . 

"  Very  respectfully,  your  friend, 

"JAMES  BUCHANAN." 

But  to  return  to  the  winter  of  1861.  The  contest  in  hoth 
houses  was  continued  daily,  but  I  do  not  propose  to  recite 
further  what  occurred  there,  exept  in  reference  to  a  reso 
lution  which  called  forth  a  report  from  the  committee  on 
military  affairs  of  the  House,  of  which  the  Hon.  Benjamin 
Stanton,  of  Ohio,  was  chairman ;  and  I  notice  this  report 
"because  of  the  reference  to  it  in  the  following  letter  from 
Mr.  Buchanan : 

"WHEATLAND,  NEAR  LANCASTER,  12th  November,  1861. 
"MY  DEAR  SIR, — You  will  confer  a  great  favor  upon  me  if  you  can 
obtain  a  half-dozen  copies  of  Mr.  Stanton's  report  from  the  committee 
on  military  affairs,  made  on  the  18th  of  February,  1861  (No.  85),  rela 
tive  to  the  arms  allegecTto  have  been  stolen  and  sent  to  the  South  by 
Floyd.  This  report,  with  the  remarks  of  Mr.  Stanton  when  presenting 
{thought  to  have  put  this  matter  at  rest,  and  it  did  so,  I  believe,  so  far 
as  Congress  was  concerned.  It  has,  however,  recently  been  repeated 
by  Cameron,  Reverdy  Johnson,  and  others,  and  I  desire  these  copies 
to  send  to  different  parts  of  the  Union,  so  that  the  falsehood  may  be 
refuted  by  the  record.  I  am  no  further  interested  in  the  matter  than 
that  if  the  charge  were  true  it  might  argue  a  want  of  care  on  my 
part.  .  .  . 


r 


96  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

"I  learn  from  those  who  read  Forney's  Press  that  Stanton  (Edwin 
M.)  is  the  counsel  and  friend  of  McClellan,  who  is,  I  trust  and  hope, 
'  the  coming  man.' 

"I  have  materials  put  together  which  will  constitute,  unless  I  am 
greatly  mistaken,  not  merely  a  good  defence,  but  a  triumphant  vindica 
tion,  of  my  administration.  You  must  not  be  astonished  some  day  to 
find  in  print  portraits  drawn  by  myself  of  all  those  who  ever  served 
in  my  Cabinet.  I  think  I  know  them  all  perfectly,  unless  it  may  be 
Stanton. 

"  From  your  friend,  very  respectfully, 

"JAMES  BUCHANAN." 

A  letter  of  somewhat  earlier  date  refers  to  a  controversy 
between  Mr.  Holt  and  Mr.  Thompson : 

"  WHEATLAND,  18th  September,  1861. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — You  recollect  the  correspondence  between  Mr.  Holt 
and  Mr.  Thompson.  The  last  letter  of  Mr.  Thompson  to  Mr.  Holt  was 
published  in  the  tri- weekly  National  Intelligencer  of  March  19,  1861,  and 
was  dated  at  Oxford  on  March  llth.  I  should  be  much  obliged  to  you  if 
you  could  procure  me  a  copy  of  this  reply.  .  .  . 

"  How  Mr.  Holt  came  to  be  so  far  mistaken  in  his  letter  of  May  31st 
to  Kentucky  as  to  state  that  the  revolutionary  leaders  greeted  me  with 
all-hails  to  my  face,  I  do  not  know.  The  truth  is  that  after  the  message 
of  the  3rd  of  December  they  were  alienated  from  me,  and  after  I  had 
returned  the  insolent  letter  of  the  first  South  Carolina  commissioners  to 
them,  I  was  attacked  by  Jefferson  Davis  and  his  followers  on  the  floor 
of  the  Senate,  and  all  political  and  social  intercourse  between  us  ceased. 
Had  the  Senate  confirmed  my  nomination  of  the  2nd  of  January  of  a 
collector  for  the  port  of  Charleston,  the  war  would~]5robably  have  com 
menced  in  January  instead  of  May.  .  .  . 

"  From  your  friend,  very  respectfully, 

"JAMES  BUCHANAN." 

Some  time  in  the  latter  part  of  February  or  the  beginning 
of  March,  1861,  Mr.  Thompson  made  a  speech  in  Missis 
sippi,  in  which  he  said :  "  As  I  was  writing  my  resignation 
I  sent  a  despatch  to  Judge  Longstreet  that  the  Star  of  the 
West  was  coming  with  reinforcements.  The  troops  were 
thus  put  on  their  guard,  and  when  the  Star  of  the  West 
arrived  she  received  a  rude  welcome  from  booming  can 
non,  and  soon  beat  a  retreat.  I  was  rejoiced  that  the  vessel 


EARLY  STAGES  OF  THE  REBELLION.  97 

was  not  sunk,  but  I  was  still  more  rejoiced  that  the  con 
cealed  trick,  first  conceived  by  General  Scott  and  adopted 
by  Secretary  Holt,  but  countermanded  by  the  President 
when  too  late,  proved  a  failure."  Mr.  Holt,  quoting  the 
above,  wrote  under  the  date  of  March  5  a  scathing  letter  to 
the  editors  of  the  Intelligencer,  saying,  "  We  have  here  a 
distinct  and  exultant  avowal  on  the  part  of  the  Honorable 
Secretary,  that  while  yet  a  member  of  the  Cabinet  he  dis 
closed  to  those  in  open  rebellion  against  the  United  States 
information  which  he  held  under  the  seal  of  a  confidence 
that  from  the  beginning  of  our  history  as  a  nation  had 
never  been  violated."  He  went  on  to  show,  by  correspond 
ence  between  Mr,  Thompson  and  the  President,  that  the 
sending  of  the  Star  of  the  West  was  done  with  the  Presi 
dent's  sanction  and  after  full  consultation  in  the  Cabinet ; 
that  the  u  countermand"  spoken  of  was  not  more  cordially 
sanctioned  by  the  President  than  it  was  by  General  Scott 
and  himself;  and  the  order  countermanding  the  sailing 
of  that  vessel  was  given,  not  because  of  any  dissent  from 
the  order  on  the  part  of  the  President,  but  because  of  a 
letter  received  that  day  from  Major  Anderson,  stating  in 
effect  that  he  regarded  himself  as  secure  in  his  position,  and 
yet  more  because  of  intelligence,  which  late  on  Saturday 
evening  reached  the  Department,  that  a  heavy  battery  had 
been  erected  among  the  sand-hills  at  the  entrance  of  Charles 
ton  harbor,  which  would  probably  destroy  any  unarmed 
vessel  (and  such  was  the  Star  of  the  West)  which  might 
attempt  to  make  its  way  up  to  Fort  Sumter.  This  important 
information  satisfied  the  Government  that  there  was  no 
present  necessity  for  sending  reinforcements,  and  that  when 
sent  they  should  go,  not  in  a  vessel  of  commerce,  but  in  a 
man-of-war. 

Mr.  Thompson  responded  March  11,  indignantly  denying, 
not  that  he  sent  the  despatch,  but  that  he  acted  on  ofiicial 
information,  or  that  he  had  divulged  any  Cabinet  secret. 
He  said,  "  On  the  morning  of  the  8th  [of  January]  the 

7 


98  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

Constitution  newspaper  contained  a  telegraphic  despatch 
from  New  York  that  the  Star  of  the  West  had  sailed  from 
that  port,  with  two  hundred  and  fifty  soldiers  on  board, 
bound  for  Fort  Sumter.  This  was  the  very  first  intimation 
I  had  received  from  any  quarter  that  additional  troops  had 
been  ordered  to  be  sent.  This  information  to  me  was  not 
6  official  ;'  it  was,  in  fact,  conveyed  with  electric  speed  to 
every  part  of  the  confederacy,  known  to  be  true  by  every 
well-informed  man  in  the  city  of  Washington  as  soon  as 
known  by  me." 

In  his  letter  of  resignation  he  had  intimated  that  the  Star 
of  the  West  expedition  had  been  fitted  out  without  his  knowl 
edge,  in  violation  of  an  express  understanding;  but  the 
President  in  his  reply  denied  this,  saying  that  on  Monday, 
31st  December,  he  had  suspended  orders  which  had  been 
issued  by  the  War  and  Navy  Departments  to  send  the 
Brooklyn  with  reinforcements  to  Fort  Sumter,  at  the  same 
time  promising  that  these  orders  should  not  be  renewed 
without  being  previously  considered  and  decided  in  Cabinet. 
He  proceeds  : 


called  a  special  Cabinet  meeting  on  Wednesday,  2d  January,  1861, 
in  which  the  question  of  sending  reinforcements  to  Fort  Sumter  was 
amply  discussed  both  by  yourself  and  others.  The  decided  majority  was 
against  you.  At  this  moment  the  answer  of  the  South  Carolina  com 
missioners  to  my  communication  of  31st  December  was  received  and 
read.  It  produced  much  indignation  among  the  members  of  the  Cabinet. 
After  a  further  brief  conversation  I  employed  the  following  language  : 
'  It  is  now  all  over,  and  reinforcements  must  be  sent.'  Judge  Black  said, 
at  the  moment  of  my  decision,  that  after  this  letter  the  Cabinet  would  be 
unanimous,  and  I  heard  no  dissenting  voice.  .  .  .  You  are  certainly  mis 
taken  in  saying  that  '  no  conclusion  was  reached.'  In  this  your  recollec 
tion  is  entirely  different  from  that  of  your  oldest  colleagues  in  the  Cabinet. 
Indeed,  my  language  was  so  unmistakable  that  the  Secretaries  of  War  and 
the  Navy  proceeded  to  act  upon  it  without  any  further  intercourse  with 
myself  than  what  you  heard  or  might  have  heard  me  say." 

Finally,  in  Mr.  Holt's  rejoinder  to  Mr.  Thompson's,  under 
date  of  25th  March,  he  spoke  of  the  absurdity  of  his  (Mr. 


EARLY  STAGES  OF  THE  REBELLION.  99 

Thompson's)  resigning  his  commission  simply  on  an  anon 
ymous  telegraphic  report,  adding  that  "  such  undoubted 
proofs  (of  the  correctness  of  the  report)  could  have  been 
had  on  the  8th  of  January  at  Washington  only  from  the 
President,  members  of  the  Cabinet,  or  others  having  con 
fidential  relations  with  the  Government.  ...  So  far  as  the 
moral  aspects  of  the  question  are  concerned,  I  deem  it 
wholly  unimportant  whether  the  information  was  derived 
from  official  or  private  sources.  In  either  case  it  was  alike 
his  (Mr.  T.'s)  duty,  as  a  faithful  officer,  to  have  withheld  it 
from  those  who  sought  it  at  his  hands  for  purposes  of  hostile 
action  against  the  Government  of  the  United  States." 

It  is  but  fair  toward  Mr.  Thompson  to  say,  that  per 
sonally  he  and  the  President  parted  on  perfectly  friendly 
terms,  although  in  the  matter  of  this  controversy  it  is 
equally  true  that  Mr.  Buchanan  did  not  sustain  him. 

Next  as  to  the  bearing  of  the  secessionists  toward  Presi- 

O 

dent  Buchanan.  In  his  stirring  and  patriotic  letter  of  May 
31,  1861,  to  J.  F.  Speed,  Esq.,  of  Kentucky,  Mr.  Holt 
held  the  following  language  :  "  The  atrocious  acts  enumer 
ated"  (the  seizure  of  forts,  arsenals,  etc.,  and  the  surrender 
of  an  entire  military  department  by  a  general,  to  the  keep 
ing  of  whose  honor  it  had  been  confided — meaning  Gen 
eral  Twiggs,  in  Texas,  who  was  summarily  dismissed  by  the 
order  of  President  Buchanan  "  for  treachery  to  the  flag  of  his 
country")  "  were  acts  of  war,  and  might  all  have  been  treated 
as  such  by  the  late  administration ;  but  the  President  pa 
triotically  cultivated  peace, — how  anxiously  and  how  pa 
tiently  the  country  well  knows.  While,  however,  the  revo 
lutionary  leaders  greeted  him  with  all-hails  to  his  face,  they 
did  not  the  less  diligently  continue  to  whet  their  swords 
behind  his  back.  Immense  military  preparations  were 
made,  so  that  when  the  moment  for  striking  at  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  arrived,  the  revolutionary  States 
leaped  into  the  contest  clad  in  full  armor." 

One  thing  is  certain,  if  the  leaders  in  the  rebellion  did 


100  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

not  greet  the  President  "  with  all-hails  to  his  face,"  they 
beset  him,  many  of  them,  to  the  last.  Undoubtedly  there 
was  less  of  perfect  freedom  of  communication  between 
them  after  his  annual  message  of  the  3d  of  December,  but 
they  followed  him  up,  and  sought  to  control  his  action  to 
the  extent  of  their  power,  until  his  term  expired. 

And  now  about  the  removal  of  Major  Beauregard  from 
"West  Point.  I  wish  I  had  the  notes  which  passed  between 
Mr.  Slidell  and  the  President  on  the  subject,  to  insert  here ; 
but  as  it  appeared  that  Mr.  Holt  could  not  find  them  among 
his  papers,  it  is  to  be  feared  they  are  lost.  It  is  amusing 
to  observe  that  while  the  Secretary  of  War  was  arranging 
to  ship  some  of  his  "  big  guns"  to  the  South,  Senator 
Slidell  was  equally  diligent  in  having  one  at  least  trans 
ferred  to  a  most  important  position  at  the  North ;  and  both 
came  to  grief  in  much  the  same  way, — by  running  against 
"  Old  Buck."  If  I  am  not  mistaken,  Major  Beauregard, 
whose  rank  did  not  entitle  him  to  the  appointment,  had 
hardly  more  than  reached  West  Point  before  the  order  for 
his  removal  was  made  by  Secretary  Holt,  then  recently 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  War  Department,  and  Senator 
Slidell  doubtless  thought,  when  he  wrote  the  President — as 
he  did,  I  have  reason  to  believe,  in  an  imperious  manner — 
that  the  latter  would  disavow  the  act  of  removal  and  rein 
state  Major  Beauregard,  so  that  he  could  have  the  opportu 
nity  of  teaching  the  cadets  at  West  Point  not  only  "  how  to 
shoot,"  "  but  where  to  shoot."  Instead,  however,  of  dis 
avowing  it,  he,  no  doubt,  gave  the  Senator  to  understand, 
in  no  equivocal  language,  that  he  as  President  was  respon 
sible  for  it,  probably  without  saying  whether  the  Secretary 
brought  the  matter  to  his  attention  before  the  order  was 
made  or  not.  This,  of  course,  was  a  fatal  offence. 

The  same  spirit  was  also  manifested  in  reference  to  the 
postal  service.  Before  speaking  of  this,  however,  I  will 
refer  to  one  other  fact  connected  with  the  administration 
of  the  War  Department.  A  short  time  before  the  with- 


EARLY  STAGES  OF  THE  REBELLION:  ^M' 

drawal  of  the  Florida  senators,  they  made  a  comnmnica- 
tion,  either  to  the  President  or  to  the  Secretary  of  War, 
requesting  to  be  advised  as  to  the  particulars  and  extent 
of  the  armament  of  the  Government  fortifications  in  that 
State.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  Secretary  Holt 
declined  to  furnish  this  information. 

The  ordinance  of  secession  was  passed  in  Florida  on  the 
llth  of  January,  and  her  senators  withdrew  about  the  21st 
of  that  month ;  on  which  day  the  Postmaster-General  made 
an  order  abolishing  the  post-office  at  Pensacola.  As  soon 
as  this  became  known,  Mr.  Yulee,  late  senator  from  that 
State,  but  now  a  citizen  of  "  the  Southern  Confederacy," 
called  at  the  Post-office  Department  and  requested  to  see 
or  be  served  with  a  copy  of  the  order  of  discontinuance. 
His  request  was  politely  refused.  I  do  not  remember 
whether  it  was  on  this  occasion  or  previously  that  he 
jocosely  intimated  to  the  officer,  thus  unmindful  of  his 
wishes,  that  a  rope  might,  at  some  day  not  far  distant, 
be  serviceable  to  him;  but  I  well  recollect  that  officer 
replied  that  he  would  esteem  it  a  great  favor  then  to  be 
elevated  in  some  position  sufficiently  commanding  to 
enable  him  to  proclaim  to  the  whole  country  his  opinion 
of  secession  and  its  wicked  abettors.* 


*  This  order  may  still  possess  interest  as  an  item  of  history,  and  it  is 
now  for  the  first  time  brought  to  light,  as  follows :  "  Whereas,  an  armed 
body  of  men  from  the  State  of  Alabama,  acting  under  authority  of  its 
Governor  and  upon  the  invitation  of  the  Governor  of  Florida,  have  taken 
possession  of  the  navy-yard  and  of  parts  of  the  forts  of  the  harbor  of 
Pensacola,  in  the  State  of  Florida,  and  still  retain  them  in  defiance  of 
the  rights  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States ;  and  whereas,  the 
officers  and  troops  constituting  the  garrison  of  Fort  Pickens  in  said 
harbor,  and  who  are  citizens  of  the  United  States  and  in  the  service 
of  its  Government,  are  by  said  armed  body  of  men  prevented  from 
communicating  with  the  shore  and  with  the  post-office  of  Pensacola; 
and  whereas,  the  Department  has  reliable  information  that  attempts 
on  the  part  of  said  garrison  to  correspond  with  the  Government  at 
Washington  have  been  defeated  by  the  intervention  of  said  armed 


102  "TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

There  was  another  instance  of  like  character  which  occurs 
to  me.  A  route  agent  by  the  name  of  West,  on  one  of  the 
railroads  in  Virginia,  having  been  removed,  the  Honorable  . 
Albert  G.  Jenkins,  member  of  Congress  from  that  State, 
who  was  afterward  killed  at  the  head  of  guerillas  in  West 
Virginia,  demanded  in  writing  to  know  distinctly  and  spe 
cifically  the  grounds  of  his  removal.  In  this  case  the  Post 
master-General  was  more  accommodating,  as  will  be  seen 
by  his  letter  to  the  member  on  a  preceding  page. 

The  postal  service  generally  throughout  the  South  was 
continued  under  the  direction  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  up  to  the  31st  of  May,  1861,  when  it  was  sus 
pended  by  a  general  order  of  the  Department.  Meantime, 
all  through  the  winter  the  leaders  of  the  rebellion  were 
making  use  of  the  mails,  and  those  of  them  in  Congress 
of  their  franking  privilege  also,  to  "  fire  up  the  Southern 
heart"  and  force  the  States  into  passing  ordinances  of 
secession,  seizing  the  Government  property,  etc.  One 
senator  (Yulee),  whose  letter  fell  into  loyal  hands  some 
time  during  the  war,  wrote  to  his  State  under  date  of 
January  5,  1861 : 

"  I  think  by  the  4th  of  March  all  the  Southern  States  will  be  out, 
except,  perhaps,  Kentucky  and  Missouri,  and  they  will  soon  have  to 
follow.  A  strong  government  of  eight  States,  promptly  organized,  with 
Jeff  Davis  for  general-in-chief,  will  bring  them  to  a  realizing  sense  of 
the  gravity  of  the  crisis.  ...  I  shall  give  the  enemy  a  shot  next  week 
before  retiring.  I  say  enemy.  Yes,  I  am  theirs,  and  they  are  mine.  I 
am  willing  to  be  their  master,  but  not  their  brother." 

This  is  a  fair  representation  of  the  spirit  manifested  by 

force  and  by  their  lawless  power  over  said  post-office,  whereby  its 
freedom  and  integrity  have  been  destroyed ;  and  whereas,  it  is  neither 
just  nor  proper  that  a  post-office  or  postal  service  should  be  supported 
by  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  from  the  use  of  which  its 
own  citizens,  and  those  in  its  employment  and  obeying  its  commands, 
are  excluded  by  the  usurpations  of  the  said  Governor,  or  by  any  other 
cause  whatever:  it  is  ordered  that  said  post-office  at  Pensacola,  in 
the  State  of  Florida,  be  and  the  same  is  hereby  abolished." 


EARLY  STAGES  OF  THE  REBELLION.  103 

the  leading  secessionists  congregated  in  Washington  during 
the  winter  and  spring  of  1861 ;  and  when  on  the  15th  of 
April  the  President  issued  his  call  for  seventy-live  thousand 
men,  his  demand  was  met  by  the  Governors  of  several  of 
the  Southern  States  in  the  same  spirit  of  bravado  and 
defiance. 

I  have  a  vivid  recollection  of  the  doubt  and  gloom  which 
pervaded  the  city  for  days  preceding  the  arrival  of  the  first 
troops  called  for  by  the  President.  Such,  at  least,  was  the 
feeling  among  all  those  here  who  had  resolved  to  stand  by 
the  Government.  Reports  were  rife  that  rebel  soldiers  were 
moving  on  the  Virginia  side  of  the  river — that  arms  had 
been  sent  forward  for  them ;  and,  as  the  passenger-boats 
were  plying  every  hour  between  Alexandria  and  Washing 
ton,  there  was  great  fear  that  this  means  of  communication 
might  be  seized  upon  to  place  a  hostile  military  force 
suddenly  in  our  midst.  Late  one  night  I  found  myself 
at  the  telegraph- office  with  my  friend,  Ginery  Twitchell, 
a  representative  in  Congress  from  Massachusetts,  and  so 
alarming  were  the  reports  in  reference  to  the  movements 
of  troops  jiear  us  in  Virginia  (who,  it  afterward  appeared, 
were  on  their  way  to  take  Harper's  Ferry)  that  we  sent  to 
General  Scott  an  urgent  request  to  stop  the  running  of  the 
Alexandria  boats.  It  was,  I  think,  on  the  following  night 
that,  being  again  at  the  telegraph-office,  Mr.  Twitchell 
received  a  despatch  that  another  Massachusetts  regiment 
had  reached  Havre  De  Grace;  and  we  immediately  pro 
ceeded  to  communicate  this  information  to  General  Scott. 
It  was  midnight  or  after  when  we  arrived  at  his  lodgings, 
and  we  were  told  that  he  had  retired  for  the  night.  Our 
message,  however,  was  conveyed  to  him,  and,  in  a  few 
minutes,  clothed  in  his  dressing-gown,  he  received  us  in 
his  office.  Calm  and  commanding,  "  he  looked  every  inch 
a  soldier,"  yet  it  was  evident  that  he  felt  the  deepest  con 
cern  in  view  of  the  then  threatening  aspect  of  affairs.  His 
greatest  anxiety  at  that  moment  was  for  troops  to  protect 


104  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

Fortress  Monroe  and  Harper's  Ferry;  arid  having  called 
upon  Massachusetts  for  these,  he  requested  Mr.  Tvvitchell 
to  urge  Governor  Andrew  to  hasten  forward  two  regiments 
for  the  purpose — the  one  for  the  former  place  to  be  sent  by 
the  fastest  steamer  possible  direct  to  Old  Point  Comfort. 
This  request  was  complied  with,  and  the  Massachusetts 
regiments  for  Fortress  Monroe  happily  arrived  there  on 
the  20th  of  April,  just  in  time  to  save  that  important  post. 
Six  hours  later  and  it  is  believed  it  would  have  been  cap 
tured.  As  General  Scott  apprehended,  Harper's  Ferry  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  insurgents  before  the  Union  troops 
could  reach  that  point. 
WASHINGTON,  April,  1872. 


CHAPTER   XL 

WHY   WAS    NOT    THE    REBELLION    CRUSHED    AT    THE    START  ? 

The  Southern  Disunionists  Prepared  to  Resist — Violence  of  the  Abo 
litionists  and  Eepublicans,  etc. 

IT  is  no  easy  matter  to  eradicate  deep-rooted  prejudice. 
President  Buchanan's  is  a  remarkable  case  in  point.  Called 
to  the  Presidency  at  a  period  when  partisan  spirit  was  almost 
at  its  highest  pitch,  he  encountered  from  the  first  the  bitter 
opposition  not  only  of  the  original  Abolitionists,  but  also 
of  the  main  body  of  the  Republican  party.  The  Southern 
disunionists,  prepared  to  resist  had  Mr.  Buchanan  been 
defeated,  were  not  in  the  best  disposition  for  peace  or 
quiet;  and  it  was  natural  and  appeared  wise  for  the 
administration  to  endeavor  to  conciliate  them  by  all 
reasonable  means  in  its  power.  This  excited  Republican 
opposition  the  more ;  and  when  Mr.  Lincoln  came  to  be 
elected  entirely  by  the  votes  of  non-slaveholding  States, 
the  public  mind  at  the  South  was  raised  to  fever  heat, 


WHY  WAS  NOT  REBELLION  CRUSHED  AT  START?    105 

while  the  sentiment  of  the  Republican  party  generally 
was  that  of  boastful  defiance ;  and  it  was  some  time  after 
that  election  before  they  came  to  believe  that  the  South 
was  really  in  earnest  in  its  threats  of  secession.  In  their 
estimation  it  was  only  bluster  and  bravado  for  political 
effect,  and  this  idea  was  not  entirely  relinquished  until  the 
attack  on  Fort  Sumter.  Although  such  was  the  opinion 
of  the  Republican  party,  as  expressed  through  the  press 
and  its  public  speakers,  up  to  the  time  and  even  after  Mr. 
Lincoln's  election  to  the  Presidency,  it  is  no  uncommon 
thing  now  to  hear  Mr.  Buchanan  condemned  because  he 
did  not  crush  the  rebellion  at  the  start;  and  many  no 
doubt  honestly  believe  that  the  reason  why  this  was  not 
done  was,  that,  if  not  at  heart  a  traitor,  he  failed  on 
account  of  inexcusable  weakness  and  timidity.  Any  such 
belief  is  wholly  without  foundation. 

There  were  two  circumstances  which  gave  rise  to  many 
complaints  and  no  little  prejudice  against  Mr.  Buchanan 
outside  of  any  mere  partisan  considerations.  The  most 
serious  of  these  related  to  his  declaration  that  "  the  Con 
stitution  has  conferred  no  power  on  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  to  coerce  a  State;"  and  the  other  grew  out  of  his 
being  held  responsible  for  the  treasonable  utterances  of 
the  Constitution  newspaper  in  the  fall  of  1860,  and  until 
that  paper  was  finally  discontinued  on  the  30th  of  January, 
1861.  That  newspaper,  published  at  the  seat  of  govern 
ment,  had  been  looked  upon  as  the  organ  of  the  admin 
istration;  and  although  its  active  editor,  Mr.  William  M. 
Browne,  a  good-looking  and  well-educated  Englishman, 
from  time  to  time  declared  that  he  alone  was  responsible 
for  its  opinions,  the  fact  that  it  continued  to  receive  the 
advertising  patronage  of  the  Government,  solely  through 
the  favor  of  the  President,  went  far  toward  satisfying  the 
opposition,  at  least,  that  the  denial  of  the  editor  was  only 
a  weak  subterfuge,  especially  as  he  sustained  the  President 
in  many  of  his  public  acts,  including  his  course  touching 


106  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

coercion.  It  is  needless  to  deny  that  the  best  friends  of 
the  President  were  embarrassed  and  not  a  little  displeased 
with  this  state  of  things,  which  existed  for  nearly  three 
months  before  the  President  rescinded  his  order  giving 
the  Government  advertising  to  that  paper.  It  might  have 
been  somewhat  different  had  the  paper  obtained  the  adver 
tising  by  reason  of  its  large  circulation,  the  law  authorizing 
it  to  be  given  to  two  of  the  city  papers  having  the  largest 
subscription  list  and  to  such  other  paper  as  the  President 
might  designate.  I  never  could  understand  why  the  Presi 
dent  so  long  delayed  to  rescind  his  order,  except  that  his 
forbearance  came  from  his  fixed  purpose  to  avoid,  as  far  as 
possible,  exciting  Southern  hostility  to  the  end  of  relinquish 
ing  the  reins  of  government  to  his  successor  without  blood 
shed. 

In  his  book  entitled  "  Mr.  Buchanan's  administration  on 
the  Eve  of  the  Rebellion,"  speaking  of  the  political  aspect 
of  affairs  at  the  time  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  election  on  the  6th 
of  November,  1860,  and  of  the  "  virulence,  uncommon  even 
in  our  own  history,"  with  which  "  his  administration  had 
been  pursued  by  the  triumphant  party  from  the  beginning," 
— how  "  his  every  act  had  been  misrepresented  and  con 
demned,"  plainly  showing  "  that  whatever  course  he  might 
pursue  he  was  destined  to  encounter  their  bitter  hostility," 
— Mr.  Buchanan  further  truthfully  remarks :  u  No  public 
man  was  ever  placed  in  a  more  trying  and  responsible  posi 
tion.  Indeed,  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  act  with  honest 
independence  without  giving  offence  to  both  the  anti-slavery 
and  secession  parties,  because  both  had  been  clearly  in  the 
wrong."  Since  that  time  a  new  generation  has  come  into 
active  life ;  and  it  is  not  strange  that  prejudices  should  have 
been  imbibed  by  the  younger  class,  on  the  one  side  and  on 
the  other  in  politics,  without  that  full  knowledge  of  the 
causes  by  which  such  prejudices  were  superinduced  pos 
sessed  by  those  whose  experience  reaches  back  to  the  dawn 
of  abolitionism  under  the  administrations  of  Presidents 


WHY  WAS  NOT  REBELLION  CRUSHED  AT  START?    107 

Jackson  and  Van  Buren.  There  are  now  living  com 
paratively  few  who  can  remember  with  what  disfavor  the 
Abolitionists  were  then  regarded  by  both  of  the  great 
political  parties  of  the  country, — a  feeling  which  under 
went  little  change  until  after  the  election  of  James  K. 
Polk  to  the  Presidency  in  1844.  The  discussion  on  the 
admission  of  Texas,  and  subsequently  of  California,  now 
gave  marked  impetus  to  the  Abolition  party  for  several 
years;  but  the  compromise  measures  of  1850,  although 
condemned  by  the  Garrison  Abolitionists,  were  acquiesced 
in  by  the  Democratic  and  Whig  parties,  and  the  public 
mind  for  the  time  being  was  quieted  on  the  slavery  ques 
tion.  The  platform  of  both  the  great  political  parties  in 
the  Presidential  campaign  of  1852  contained  resolutions 
in  favor  of  maintaining  that  compromise,  and,  in  the 
language  of  the  Whig  platform,  declared  that  "  We 
deprecate  all  further  agitation  of  the  question  thus  settled, 
as  dangerous  to  our  peace,  and  will  discountenance  all 
efforts  to  continue  or  renew  such  agitation,  whenever, 
wherever,  or  however  the  attempt  may  be  made."  This, 
however,  did  not  silence  the  Abolitionists,  then  odious 
to  both  the  Whig  and  Democratic  parties  on  account  of 
their  unjust  interference  with  the  constitutional  rights  of 
the  South,  and  of  their  openly  declared  disunion  senti 
ments.  These  agitators  were  thus  characterized  by  Mr. 
Webster  in  his  famous  cabinet  circular  of  October,  1850 : 
"In  the  Northern  and  Eastern  States,"  he  says,  "these 
sentiments  of  disunion  are  espoused  principally  by  persons 
of  heated  imaginations,  assembling  together  and  passing 
resolutions  of  such  a  wild  and  violent  character  as  to 
render  them  nearly  harmless."  So  they  appeared  at  the 
time  to  the  great  body  of  the  people  in  all  sections  of 
the  country  opposed  to  them;  yet  their  continued  pro 
mulgation  afforded  just  the  fuel  required  to  feed  the 
flames  of  disunion  in  the  slave  States.  In  the  words  of 
Mr.  Buchanan,  "  When  Congress  assembled  after  the 


108  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

election  of  President  Pierce,  on  the  first  Monday  in 
December,  1853,  although  the  abolition  fanatics  had  not 
ceased  to  agitate,  crimination  and  recrimination  between 
the  sectional  parties  had  greatly  subsided,  and  a  compara 
tive  political  calm  everywhere  prevailed.  .  .  .  But  how 
short-lived  and  delusive  was  this  calm!"  The  ulong  and 
angry  debate"  upon  the  Kansas  and  Nebraska  bill,  intro 
duced  by  Senator  Douglas  on  the  23d  of  January,  1854, 
and  its  passage  with  a  section  repealing  the  Missouri  Com 
promise  in  May  following,  "  reopened  the  floodgates  of 
sectional  strife,  which  it  was  fondly  imagined  had  been 
closed  forever."  This  continued  to  increase  "  in  violence 
and  malignity"  until  the  country  became  involved  "  in  the 
greatest  and  most  sanguinary  civil  war  in  history." 

President  Buchanan  went  no  further  in  sustaining  what 
he  considered  the  clear  constitutional  rights  of  the  South 
than  did  Mr.  Webster  in  his  great  seventh  of  March 
speech.  Both  were  alike  condemned  by  the  Republicans 
for  the  doctrines  they  advanced  and  their  efforts  at  con 
ciliation.  In  his  eulogy  on  Daniel  Webster  at  the  Marsh- 
field  celebration,  on  the  12th  of  October,  1882,  President 
Allen,  of  the  Webster  Historical  Society,  well  remarked : 
"  Who  can  deny  to-day  that  the  extremists  of  the  South 
were  as  logical  in  their  claims  for  the  maintenance  of 
slavery  as  were  the  Abolitionists  of  the  North  for  its  un 
conditional  overthrow?  Webster  stood  alone,  but  Web 
ster  was  consistent.  He  claimed  to  maintain  the  Con 
stitution  and  the  laws  of  the  land  in  good  faith,  and  he 
acted  up  to  his  belief.  .  .  .  For  this  he  was  reviled  and 
maltreated  both  in  the  North  and  South.  He  dreaded 
(and  the  result  has  proved  the  divinity  of  his  prescience) 
that  disunion  would  be  forcibly  attempted  by  the  South, 
and  that  the  country,  plunged  in  all  the  horrors  of  a  civil 
war,  would  be  deluged  with  the  blood  of  its  citizens. 
Who  can  now  say  that  he  was  not  right  ?"  Undoubtedly 
there  are  few  among  the  reflecting  of  the  community, 


WHY  WAS  NOT  REBELLION  CRUSHED  AT  START?    109 

especially  of  those  conversant  with  public  affairs  as  far 
back  as  1835,  who  will  not  say  he  was  right.  Yet,  how 
often  do  we  hear  even  the  Garrison  Abolitionists  extolled 
for  "  their  work  so  well  begun,  and  which  finally  culmi 
nated  in  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  United  States !" 
It  is  difficult  to  see  how  their  "  work,"  which,  in  the 
judgment  of  the  great  body  of  the  people,  was  treason 
able  and  consequently  highly  reprehensible  before  the  war, 
can  now  be  regarded  as  entitling  them  to  the  gratitude  of 
the  present  and  future  generations,  unless  at  the  same  time1 
they  are  to  be  commended  for  bringing  on  the  most  terri 
ble  war  that  ever  afflicted  mankind.  For  my  own  part, 
rather  than  have  any  share  in  such  commendation,  I  feel 
much  better  satisfied  to  retain  my  true  position  with  Daniel 
Webster,  James  Buchanan,  and  the  million  of  other  patriots 
throughout  the  country  who  also  agreed  with  them  in  con 
demning  the  course  of  the  Abolitionists,  and  doing  every 
thing  in  their  power  to  quiet  agitation  and  prevent  blood 
shed. 

Said  President  Buchanan  in  his  last  annual  message : 

"The  long-continued  and  intemperate  interference  of  the  Northern 
people  with  the  question  of  slavery  in  the  Southern  States  has  at  length 
produced  its  natural  results.  The  different  sections  of  the  Union  are 
now  arrayed  against  each  other,  and  the  time  has  arrived,  so  much 
dreaded  by  the  Father  of  his  Country,  when  hostile  geographical  parties 
have  been  formed.  I  have  long  foreseen  and  often  forewarned  my 
countrymen  of  the  now  impending  danger." 

Who  will  deny  the  correctness  of  this  statement? 

Decided,  however,  as  was  President  Buchanan  in  his 
censure  of  Northern  interference  with  the  question  of 
slavery,  he  was  equally  earnest  in  his  appeals  to  the 
Southern  States  not  to  allow  this  interference  to  drive 
them  into  secession,  which  he  likewise  condemned  as 
wholly  indefensible.  In  his  message  to  Congress,  he  said : 

"  In  order  to  justify  secession  as  a  constitutional  remedy,  it  must  be  on 
the  principle  that  the  Federal  Government  is  a  mere  voluntary  association 


110  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

of  States,  to  be  dissolved  at  pleasure  by  any  one  of  the  contracting  parties. 
If  this  be  so,  the  Confederacy  is  a  rope  of  sand,  to  be  penetrated  and  dis 
solved  by  the  first  adverse  wave  of  public  opinion  in  any  of  the  States. 
.  .  .  Such  a  principle  is  wholly  inconsistent  with  the  history  as  well  as 
the  character  of  the  Federal  Constitution." 

Nor  did  he  consider  that  anything  which  had  yet  oc 
curred  would  justify  revolutionary  resistance.  "  In  order 
to  justify  a  resort  to  revolutionary  resistance,"  he  said, 
"  the  Federal  Government  must  be  guilty  of  '  a  delib 
erate,  palpable,  and  dangerous  exercise'  of  powers  not 
granted  by  the  Constitution."  So  far  as  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment  was  concerned,  he  urged  that  no  act  whatever- 
had  been  committed,  either  by  the  executive,  legislative,  or 
judicial  branch  thereof,  not  strictly  within  constitutional 
limits ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  that  even  the  fugitive  slave 
law,  so  offensive  to  many  in  the  free  States,  had  been 
faithfully  executed;  it  was  not  what  Congress  had  done, 
but  what  it  was  feared  it  might  do,  that  was  objected  to; 
and  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  had  sustained 
the  rights  of  the  South  in  every  particular  touching  the 
question  of  slavery.  Knowing  the  impulsive  character 
of  most  of  the  leading  men  of  the  South,  he  earnestly 
cautioned  them  against  hasty  action,  insisting  that "  reason, 
justice,  a  regard  for  the  Constitution,"  all  required  that 
they  should  "wait  for  some  overt  and  dangerous  act  on 
the  part  of  the  President  elect,  before  resorting"  to  ex 
treme  measures. 

Thus,  Mr.  Buchanan  found  himself  between  two  fires. 
"  To  preserve  the  Union,"  he  says  in  his  book,  "  was  the 
President's  supreme  object,  and  he  considered  it  doubtful 
whether  it  could  survive  the  shock  of  civil  war." 

This  brief  summary  shows  how  the  President  felt,  and  it  is 
the  key  to  much  of  his  action  for  which  he  has  been  severely 
cejisured.  Evidently  decided  not  to  do  anything  to  give 
the  South  just  cause  of  complaint,  he  was  ready  himself  to 
suffer  from  what  was  regarded  even  by  some  of  his  political 


WHY  WAS  NOT  REBELLION  CRUSHED  AT  START?   Ill 

friends  as  extreme  moderation  toward  the  secessionists, 
rather  than  that  any  act  of  his  should  serve  to  increase  their 
already  inflamed  passions.  Hence  I  conclude  that  he  deemed 
it  prudent  not  at  once  to  incur  their  bitter  enmity  by  with 
drawing  the  Government  advertising  from  the  Constitution 
newspaper. 

The  most  cursory  view  of  the  columns  of  that  sheet  will 
show  how  inevitable  it  was  that  President  Buchanan  must 
suffer  in  the  estimation  of  Union  men  on  account  of  its 
declared  disunion  sentiments  and  character.  A  few  brief 
extracts  from  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  here.  Its  key-note 
was  sounded  in  its  leading  editorial  of  the  7th  of  Novem 
ber,  1860,  the  first  morning  after  Lincoln's  election,  when 
the  editor  said : 

"  We  can  understand  the  effect  that  will  be  produced  in  every  Southern 
mind  when  he  reads  the  news,  that  he  is  now  called  on  to  decide  for  him 
self,  his  children,  and  his  children's  children,  whether  he  will  submit 
tamely  to  the  rule  of  one  elected  on  account  of  his  hostility  to  him  and 
his,  or  whether  he  will  make  a  struggle  to  defend  his  rights,  his  inheri 
tance,  and  his  honor." 

From  this  time  until  its  "  suspension"  on  the  30th  of  Janu 
ary,  the  paper  was  filled  with  articles  favoring  secession,  and, 
under  the  immediate  eyes  of  the  leaders  of  disunion,  it  was 
their  willing  mouth-piece.  A  month  before  even  South 
Carolina  passed  its  ordinance  of  secession,  we  find  a  letter 
from  Senator  Yulee  informing  the  Legislature  of  his  State 
"  that  upon  learning,  any  time  between  this  [November  20] 
and  the  4th  day  of  March  next,  of  the  determination  of 
Florida  to  dissolve  her  union  with  the  Northern  States,  I 
shall  promptly  and  joyously  return  home,  to  support  the 
banner  of  the  State  to  which  my  allegiance  is  owing  and  in 
which  my  family  altar  is  established." 

Next,  under  date  of  21st  of  November,  we  hear  Senator 
Hammond,  of  South  Carolina,  addressing  a  mass-meeting 
at  Columbus,  Georgia,  and  saying : 


112  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

"  South  Carolina  will  certainly  secede  from  the  Union  on  the  17th  or 
18th  of  December  next.  She  intends  to  try  it  fully  at  all  costs.  No 
more  compromise  of  any  sort.  She  takes  no  guarantee,  but  will  go  out 
high  and  dry  forever.  If  Georgia  will  back  her,  there  will  be  little  or  no 
trouble." 

On  the  following  day  the  editor  of  the  Constitution  writes  : 

"Another  and  more  decisive  way  is  open  to  Messrs.  Lincoln  and  Ham- 
lin.  By  one  bold  stroke  may  they  remove  the  difficulties  and  avert  the 
danger.  Let  them  resign  their  positions.  .  .  .  Since  Mr.  Lincoln  cannot, 
in  all  likelihood,  be  more  than  the  President  of  a  broken  Union,  com 
paratively  little  philosophy  may  reconcile  him  to  the  sacrifice.  He  is 
simply  called  upon  to  give  up  gracefully  what  he  cannot  keep  peacefully 
and  usefully." 

At  this  time  it  was  stated  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  receiving 
a  dozen  letters  a  day  threatening  him  with  assassination. 

Movements  "being  now  in  progress  with  a  view  to  the 
repeal  of  the  "  personal  liberty  acts"  in  those  States  which 
had  declared  their  purpose  to  disregard  the  fugitive  slave 
law,  the  editor,  under  date  of  November  24,  said :  "  The 
mere  repeal  of  the  '  personal  liberty  acts'  will  not  suffice  to 
satisfy  the  South  ;"'  that  amendments  to  the  Constitution 
are  demanded.  Again,  December  22,  he  wrote  :  "  Nowhere 
throughout  the  Cotton  States  has  a  journal  or  a  public  man 
ventured  to  counsel  submission  to  the  rule  of  a  black  Re 
publican  President."  And  on  the  25th  of  December  he 
said  :  "  The  alternative  is  clear.  You  must  recognize  se 
cession  when  ordained  by  the  people  of  a  State  ;  or,  dream 
ing  of  coercion,  you  must  prepare  for  civil  war." 

Meantime,  on  December  20,  the  South  Carolina  Conven 
tion  unanimously  adopted  an  ordinance  of  secession,  and  on 
the  22d  appointed  three  commissioners  "  to  proceed  forth 
with  to  Washington  to  treat  with  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  concerning  the  relations  between  the  parties." 
The  New  York  Commercial  Advertiser  having  said  that  these 
commissioners  u  ought  to  have  no  notice  taken  of  them 
whatever  until  the  people  who  sent  them  to  Washington 


WHY  WAS  NOT  KEBELLION  CEUSHED  AT  STAET?   113 

have  rescinded  the  insulting  and  rebellious  ordinance  of 
secession,"  the  editor  of  the  Constitution,  quoting  the  same 
on  the  25th  of  December,  remarked  : 

"  The  commissioners,  we  submit,  will  be  entitled  to  a  hearing — to  a 
friendly,  candid,  and  intelligent  hearing ;  and,  if  wisdom  have  any  weight 
in  the  counsels  of  Congress,  they  will  have  it.  They  will  be  entitled  to 
more — to  a  readiness  to  enter  into  negotiation  for  the  adjustment  of  mat 
ters  in  which  the  State  and  the  Union  are  both  concerned  ;  that,  although 
unable  to  prolong  former  relations,  they  may  yet  be  enabled  to  remain 
friends,  and  quietly  and  beneficially  reciprocate  the  obligations  and  favors 
of  neighbors." 

It  now  appears  that,  seriously  disturbed  by  this  persistent 
opposition  to  his  own  patriotic  views  and  purposes,  President 
Buchanan  addressed  to  the  editor  of  the  Constitution  the 
following  private  letter,  which  was  first  published  only  o-n 
November  22,  1880,  when  Mr.  George  Ticknor  Curtis,  his 
biographer,  produced  it  in  a  communication  to  the  New 
York  Sun,  in  which  article  this  observation  also  occurs  : 
"  There  is  not  a  more  remarkable  instance  in  all  history  of 
the  misconception  with  which  a  great  public  man  may  be 
pursued  than  this  case  of  Mr.  Buchanan." 

[PRIVATE.] 

"  WASHINGTON,  December  25, 1860. 

"MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  have  read  with  deep  mortification  your  editorial 
this  morning,  in  which  you  take  open  ground  against  my  message  on 
the  right  of  secession.  I  have  defended  you  as  long  as  I  can  against 
numerous  complaints.  You  have  a  perfect  right  to  be  in  favor  of  seces 
sion,  and  for  this  I  have  no  just  reason  to  complain.  The  difficulty  is 
that  the  Constitution  is  considered  my  organ,  and  its  articles  subject  me 
to  the  charge  of  insincerity  and  double  dealing.  I  am  deeply  sorry  to 
say  that  I  must  in  some  authentic  form  declare  the  Constitution  is  not 
the  organ  of  the  administration. 

"  Your  friend,  very  respectfully, 

"JAMES  BUCHANAN. 
"  WILLIAM  M.  BROWNE,  ESQ." 

This  rebuke  doubtless  drew  from  the  editor  the  following 
article,  which  appeared  in  his  paper  of  December  27 : 

8 


114  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

"  Notwithstanding  our  frequent  and  positive  assurances  to  the  contrary, 
we  see  it  daily  asserted  by  the  opponents  of  the  President  and  his  admin 
istration  that  he  is  responsible  for  the  course  of  this  paper ;  that  the  edito 
rial  articles  are  written  at  his  dictation,  or  submitted  for  his  revision  and 
approval ;  and  that,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  it  is  the  organ  through 
which  he  and  his  Cabinet  express  their  opinions.  We  again,  and  for  the 
last  time,  pronounce  the  assertion  that  the  President,  or  anybody  on  earth 
but  the  editor  and  proprietor  of  this  paper,  is  responsible  for  its  opinions, 
to  be  a  deliberate  falsehood.  While  we  have  given,  and  shall  continue  to 
give,  the  President  and  his  administration  a  hearty  and  zealous  support, 
we  reserve  to  ourselves  and  always  exercise  the  right  to  entertain  and 
express  our  own  views  and  sentiments,  no  matter  how  widely  they  may 
differ  from  those  of  our  best  friends." 


The  "  hearty  and  zealous  support"  of  the  administration 
thus  promised  was  shown  by  the  continued  production  of 
such  articles  as  were  calculated  only  to  disparage  the  Union 
cause  and  embarrass  the  President  in  his  efforts  at  concilia 
tion.  So  infatuated  were  the  leading  secessionists  with  the 
idea  of  their  final  success,  and  so  sure  were  they  that  the 
!N"orth  would  consent  to  a  peaceable  separation  rather  than 
go  to  war,  that  their  papers,  of  which  the  Constitution  was  a 
conspicuous  example,  were  jubilant  over  every  act  of  disloy 
alty,  whether  of  citizen  or  State,  that  in  rapid  succession  was 
chronicled  in  their  columns.  Any  prospect  of  staying  the 
tide  of  secession,  instead  of  pleasure  seemed  to  give  them 
only  pain,  and  every  such  prospect  was  discredited.  On 
the  29th  of  December,  Senators  Crittenden  and  Douglas 
received  from  gentlemen  at  Atlanta,  Georgia,  a  despatch 
inquiring,  "  Is  there  any  hope  for  Southern  rights  in  the 
Union  ?  [adding]  We  are  for  the  Union  of  our  fathers  if 
Southern  rights  can  be  preserved  in  it."  They  answered, 
"  We  have  hopes  that  the  rights  of  the  Southern  and  of 
every  State  and  section  may  be  protected  within  the 
Union.  Don't  give  up  the  ship.  Don't  despair  of  the 
Republic." 

This  correspondence  appeared  in  the  Constitution  on  the 
following  day,  with  remarks  by  the  editor  of  a  discouraging 


WHY  WAS  NOT  REBELLION  CRUSHED  AT  START?   115 

nature,  and  asking,  "  On  what   foundation  do  they  [the 
Senators]  build  their  hopes  ?" 

Howell  Cobb,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  resigned  on  the"\ 
8th  of  December,  and  Lewis  Cass,  Secretary  of  State,  on  the 
12th  of  that  month,  but  for  opposite  reasons.  Mr.  Cobb  / 
differed  with  the  President  on  the  right  of  secession  and 
the  question  of  defending  the  public  property  and  collecting 
the  revenue  in  South  Carolina;  and  General  Cass  withdrew 
from  the  Cabinet,  it  was  understood,  on  account  of  a  differ 
ence  of  opinion  in  reference  to  the  reinforcement  of  Fort 
Sumter.  I  know,  from  an  affecting  interview  I  had  with 
him  soon  after  his  resignation,  that  he  thought  the  fort 
should  have  been  put  in  a  complete  state  of  defence  imme 
diately  after  Mr.  Lincoln's  election. 

Meantime  the  Constitution  seized  upon  everything  within 
its  reach  to  encourage  the  secessionists  to  press  forward  in 
their  insane  movement  to  dissolve  the  Union.  The  with 
drawal  of  South  Carolina  was  proclaimed  as  complete  and 
final,  and  in  a  "  Song  of  Deliverance,"  one  of  her  most 
gifted  poets  devoutly  sung, — 

"  The  night  of  doom  is  past 

And  our  Freedom  born  at  last, 
A  fair  immortal  rises  o'er  the  storm  of  doubt  and  dread ; 

She  dawns  in  pomp  of  power, 

At  the  God-appointed  hour, 
Youth's  dewy  morning  in  her  eyes,  Hope's  halo  round  her  head." 

The  Charleston  Mercury  published  the  "  Doings  in  the 
Federal  Congress,"  and  other  news  from  Washington  under 
the  head  "  Foreign  News,"  and,  as  appears  from  the  Consti 
tution,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Dupree,  in  his  prayer  at  the  opening 
of  the  South  Carolina  Convention  on  the  1st  of  January, 
exclaimed :  "  0  God,  wilt  thou  bring  confusion  upon  our 
enemies,  and  wilt  thou  strengthen  the  hearts  and  nerve  the 
arms  of  our  sons  to  meet  this  great  trial,  in  the  name  of 
the  God  of  Israel." 


116  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

The  Governor  of  South  Carolina  had  already  issued  his 
proclamation,  which  appeared  in  the  Constitution  of  the  28th 
of  December,  saying, — 

"  By  virtue  of  authority  in  me  vested  [I]  do  hereby  proclaim  to  the 
world  that  this  State  is,  as  she  has  a  right  to  be,  a  separate,  sovereign, 
free,  and  independent  State  ;  and,  as  such,  has  a  right  to  levy  war,  con 
clude  peace,  negotiate  treaties,  leagues,  or  covenants,  and  to  do  all  acts 
whatsoever  that  rightfully  appertain  to  a  free  and  independent  State." 

The  secessionists  could  he  witty,  as  well  as  solemn  and 
devout ;  and,  by  way  of  variety,  I  venture  to  reproduce  a 
specimen  of  their  wit  by  transcribing  from  the  Constitution 
of  the  12th  of  January  the  following  effusion,  entitled — 

"SECESSION  CONSUMMATED. 

"  Yankee  Doodle  took  a  saw, 
With  patriotic  devotion, 
To  trim  the  Tree  of  Liberty 
According  to  his  '  notion !' 

"  Yankee  Doodle  on  a  limb, 

Like  another  noodle, 
Cut  between  the  tree  and  him, 
And  down  came  Yankee  Doodle. 

"  Yankee  Doodle  broke  his  neck, 

Every  bone  about  him, 
And  then  the  Tree  of  Liberty 
Did  very  well  without  him  !" 

The  thought  intrudes  itself  whether  it  were  not  others 
instead  of  "  Yankee  Doodle"  that  undertook  thus  to  trim 
the  "Tree  of  Liberty;"  but  this  is  all  now  satisfactorily 
settled. 

As  a  matter  of  course,  the  editor  of  the  Constitution,  like 
all  other  Secessionists,  was  resolutely  opposed  to  coercion  ; 
and  they  were  all  cunning  enough  to  give  the  word  a  much 
broader  signification  than  did  either  President  Buchanan 
or  any  of  his  friends.  While  the  secessionists,  supported, 
I  regret  to  say,  in  no  small  degree  by  the  Republican  party, 


WHY  WAS  NOT  EEBELLION  CRUSHED  AT  START?   117 

chose  to  represent  the  President  as  holding  that  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  had  no  power  under  the  Consti 
tution  to  use  force  either  against  a  rebellious  State  or  the 
individual  citizens  of  such  State  to  prevent  the  dismember 
ment  of  the  Union,  he  used  the  word  "  coercion"  expressly 
as  against  a  seceding  State  in  its  corporate  capacity,  and  not 
in  respect  to  the  people  of  a  State.  This  is  what  he  said  in 
his  message  to  Congress  : 

"  The  question,  fairly  stated,  is,  '  Has  the  Constitution  delegated  to 
Congress  the  power  to  coerce  a  State  into  submission,  which  is  attempting 
to  withdraw,  or  has  actually  withdrawn,  from  the  Confederacy?'  If 
answered  in  the  affirmative,  it  must  be  on  the  principle  that  the  power 
has  been  conferred  upon  Congress  to  make  war  against  a  State.  After 
much  serious  reflection,  I  have  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  no  such 
power  has  been  delegated  to  Congress  or  to  any  other  department  of  the 
Federal  Government." 

In  support  of  this  view,  he  quotes  Mr.  Madison  as  saying, 
in  the  convention  which  framed  the  Constitution,  that 
"  The  use  of  force  against  a  State  would  look  more  like  a 
declaration  of  war  than  an  infliction  of  punishment,  and 
would  probably  be  considered  by  the  party  attacked  as  a 
dissolution  of  all  previous  compacts  by  which  it  might  be 
bound."  The  clause  "  authorizing  an  exertion  of  the  force 
of  the  whole  against  a  delinquent  State"  was  then,  31st  of 
May,  1787,  under  consideration,  and  Mr.  Buchanan  states 
that  it  was  on  motion  of  Mr.  Madison  unanimously  post 
poned,  and  was  never,  he  believes,  again  presented. 

Andrew  Johnson,  of  Tennessee,  in  his  speech  in  the 
Senate  on  the  18th  of  December,  1860,  said,  "I  do  not  be 
lieve  the  Federal  Government  has  the  power  to  coerce  a 
State,"  but  "  it  has  the  right  and  the  power  to  enforce  and 
execute  the  law  upon  individuals  within  the  limits  of  a 
State." 

Mr.  Buchanan  justly  complains  of  the  Republican  party 
"  because  they  have  not  chosen  to  take  the  distinction  be 
tween  the  power  to  make  war  against  a  State  in  its  sov- 


118  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

ereign  character,  and  the  undoubted  power  to  enforce  the 
laws  of  Congress  directly  against  the  individual  citizens 
thereof  within  its  limits." 

Mr.  Simon  Cameron,  Republican  Senator  from  Pennsyl 
vania,  when  the  subject  was  under  consideration  in  the 
Senate,  said,  "  Coercion  is  the  last  remedy  to  which  I  would 
resort.  I  do  not  know  that  I  should  ever  resort  to  it;  but 
certainly  it  is  the  last  remedy  that  I  would  resort  to,  to 
keep  my  brother  in  my  family." 

We  have  the  testimony  of  Judge  Black  and  General 
Holt  that  they  both  agreed  with  the  President  upon  the 
legal  proposition  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
does  not  confer  the  power  upon  the  Federal  Government  to 
coerce  a  State  by  force  of  arms  to  remain  in  the  Union. 
General  Holt  says  he  knows  that  such  was  the  opinion  also 
of  Secretary  Stanton,  and  Judge  Black  avers  that  General 
Cass  "  was  strong"  for  "  the  retention"  of  the  term  "  co 
ercion"  in  the  President's  message,  although  he  [Black] 
was  opposed  to  that  expression,  because,  as  he  says,  he  told 
the  President,  "  it  would  be  read  superficially  and  misun 
derstood."  It  is  equally  certain  that  Secretary  Toucey  was 
opposed  to  coercion ;  for  Judge  Black  says  he  "  always 
agreed  with  the  President."  Of  course  there  is  no  doubt 
as  to  the  views  of  Secretaries  Cobb  and  Thompson  on  this 
subject. 

In  a  letter  to  the  Philadelphia  Press,  from  Mr.  John  "W. 
Forney,  then  the  Republican  Clerk  of  the  United  States 
House  of  Representatives,  and  reprinted  in  the  Constitution 
of  the  28th  of  December,  he  wrote : 

"  Let  me  not  be  misunderstood.  The  word  (  coercion'  should  never  be 
used.  There  is  no  desire  on  the  part  of  the  friends  of  the  Union  to 
make  war.  Their  attitude  is,  and  should  be,  to  enforce  the  execution  of 
the  laws, — nothing  more,  nothing  less.  It  is  not  intended  to  make  an 
attack  on  South  Carolina  unless  South  Carolina  should  make  an  attack 
upon  the  Government.  Then  that  which  is  now  secession  becomes  revo 
lution,  and  revolution  is  treason,  and  must  be  rebuked  as  such." 


WHY  WAS  NOT  REBELLION  CEUSHED  AT  START?   119 

It  is  well  to  remember  that  some  time  before  the  Presi 
dent's  message,  in  which  the  unfortunate  expression,  "  co 
ercion,"  appeared,  was  sent  to  Congress,  leading  Republi 
cans  everywhere  scouted  the  idea  of  using  force  against  the 
Southern  States ;  and  only  three  days  after  Lincoln's  elec 
tion  the  NQW  York  Tribune  said : 

"  If  the  Cotton  States  shall  become  satisfied  that  they  can  do  better 
out  of  the  Union  than  in  it,  we  insist  on  letting  them  go  in  peace.  The 
right  to  secede  may  be  a  revolutionary  one,  but  it  exists  nevertheless. 
.  .  .  We  must  ever  resist  the  right  of  any  State  to  remain  in  the  Union 
and  nullify  or  defy  the  laws  thereof.  To  withdraw  from  the  Union  is 
quite  another  matter;  and  whenever  any  considerable  section  of  our 
Union  shall  deliberately  resolve  to  go  out,  we  shall  resist  all  coercive 
measures  designed  to  keep  it  in.  We  hope  never  to  live  in  a  republic 
where  one  section  is  pinned  to  another  by  bayonets." 

Similar  sentiments  were  subsequently  repeatedly  enun 
ciated  by  the  Tribune  as  well  after  as  before  the  formation 
of  the  Southern  Confederacy.  These  and  kindred  articles 
from  other  sources  were  greedily  transferred  to  the  columns 
of  the  Constitution,  whereby  the  secessionists  were  encour 
aged  and  the  administration  suffered.  At  length,  near  the 
end  of  January,  1861,  the  President  withdrew  the  Govern 
ment  patronage  from  that  paper,  when  the  editor,  on  the 
30th  of  that  month,  announced  its  "  suspension  for  a  short 
time,"  after  which  he  said  it  would  be  resumed  "  within  the 
limits  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  as  at  present  consti 
tuted,  hoping,  as  I  do  most  fervently,  that  in  a  short  time 
Washington  and  the  State  to  which  she  belongs  may  be 
included  within  those  limits."  He  spoke  of  the  Presi 
dent's  order  as  "  official  persecution,"  in  the  same  breath 
declaring :  "  I  advocated  secession.  I  hoped,  and  still  hope, 
that  all  the  Southern  States  will  secede." 

The  failure  to  reinforce  the  forts  in  Charleston  harbor 
was  another  serious  cause  of  complaint  against  President 
Buchanan.  As  already  stated,  this  subject  received  early 
attention  of  the  Cabinet;  but  so  many  difficulties  intervened 


120  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

that  no  decisive  action  was  taken  in  the  matter  until  the  at 
tempt  to  send  recruits  and  subsistence  stores  to  Fort  Sumter 
on  the  5th  of  January,  1861,  by  the  passenger  steamer  Star 
of  the  West,  which  vessel,  it  will  be  recollected,  was  fired 
upon  by  order  of  the  Governor  of  South  Carolina  as  she  was 
endeavoring  to  approach  the  fort,  and  she  was  compelled  to 
put.  to  sea. 

In  an  "  interview"  with  a  correspondent  of  the  Phila 
delphia  Press,  in  August,  1881,  Judge  Black  said : 

"  Mr.  Buchanan  understood  as  well  as  anybody  that  the  forts  there 
must  be  kept,  and  was  thoroughly  determined  not  to  give  them  up. 
Immediately  after  the  election  [of  Mr.  Lincoln]  he  directed  Floyd,  the 
Secretary  of  War,  to  see  that  the  forts  were  fully  manned  and  provisioned. 
1  If/  said  he,  addressing  the  Secretary,  *  those  forts  should  be  taken  by 
South  Carolina  in  consequence  of  our  negligence  to  put  them  in  defen 
sible  condition,  it  were  better  for  you  and  me  both  to  be  thrown  into  the 
Potomac  with  millstones  tied  about  our  necks.'  Floyd  replied  very 
solemnly — that  is,  more  solemnly  than  he  usually  spoke — that  his  own 
convictions  accorded  with  those  of  the  President,  and  said  that  duty 
should  be  immediately  and  completely  performed." 

It  was  not  done,  however,  and  the  sequel  shows  that,  while 
Messrs.  Cass,  Black,  Holt,  and  Stanton  were  impatient  at 
the  delay  in  ordering  reinforcements  sent,  the  President 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  prudent  to  wait.  Judge 
Black  says  : 

"  The  object  of  the  policy  which  the  President  thought  proper  to  pur 
sue,  and  that  which  I  urged  upon  him  as  a  better  one,  were  the  same, — 
namely,  to  preserve  the  peace  and  hand  over  the  Government  in  as  good 
order  as  possible  to  the  succeeding  administration,  and  give  Lincoln  a 
chance  to  do  that  which  seemed  good  in  his  own  eyes.  Buchanan's  con 
viction  was  that  Lincoln  would  try  his  best  to  avoid  a  fatal  rupture,  and 
he  would  be  able  to  satisfy  the  Southern  men  of  that,  if  only  they  would 
be  quiet  until  the  4th  of  March.  But  if  previous  to  that  time  a  war 
should  open,  the  Union  must  utterly  perish,  for  it  was  very  plain  that  the 
Congress  then  in  session  would  not  vote  a  man  or  a  dollar  to  aid  him  in 
saving  it.  [This  point  is  strongly  and  conclusively  presented  by  Mr. 
Buchanan  in  his  book.]  If  Fort  Sumter  should  be  taken,  the  conflict 
would  immediately  begin,  with  the  certainty  of  hideous  ruin  to  the  cause 
of  the  Union.  The  imperious  necessity  of  holding  the  forts  in  Charleston 


WHY  WAS  NOT  REBELLION  CRUSHED  AT  START  ?   121 

harbor  was  a  point  acknowledged  by  the  whole  of  the  administration, 
except  those  Southern  members  who  thought  they  ought  to  be  peaceably 
handed  over  to  the  secessionists.     But  we  divided  on  the  practical  ques 
tion  of  the  best  mode  to  keep  them.    The  President  was  convinced  that\ 
if  no  movement  were  made  looking  to  the  increase  of  our  force  at  that  I 
point,   the  revolutionary  States  would  await  the  advent  of  the  new 
administration." 

The  correctness  of  this  statement  is  fully  corroborated  by 
Mr.  Buchanan,  who  says  that  he  had  "  determined  not  to 
touch  the  status  quo  at  Charleston  as  long  as  our  troops 
should  continue  to  be  hospitably  treated  by  the  inhabitants, 
and  remain  in  unmolested  possession  of  the  forts."  Without 
any  formal  agreement  not  to  order  a  reinforcement  of  the 
forts,  as  proposed  by  four  of  the  representatives  from  South 
Carolina,  who  called  on  the  President  for  that  purpose,  and 
who  were  told  by  him  u  such  an  agreement  he  would  never 
make,"  there  is  no  doubt  whatever  of  his  determination  at 
that  time  (10th  December)  to  await  any  hostile  movement 
on  the  part  of  South  Carolina  before  sending  such  reinforce 
ments.  Judge  Black  says  he  knows  of  no  satisfactory  evi 
dence  that  there  was  any  such  agreement,  and  here  is  what 
General  Hojt_says  on  the  subject  in  an  "  interview"  with  the 
aforementioned  correspondent  of  the  Philadelphia  Press,  in 
August,  1881,  viz. : 

"  I  should  deny  emphatically  that  he  [President  Buchanan]  ever  had 
any  understanding  with  the  Southern  people  which  would  prevent  him 
from  carrying  out  the  expressed  and  well-known  policy  of  his  adminis 
tration,  to  refrain  from  hostile  acts,  if  possible,  but  to  defend  the  Southern 
forts  to  the  last  extremity  if  they  were  assailed.  I  have  often  thought 
while  looking  back  over  that  stormy  period  that  Mr.  Buchanan  acted  most 
wisely  and  judiciously  in  his  treatment  of  the  Southern  question.  You 
must  bear  in  mind  that  Mr.  Buchanan  was  surrounded  by  a  Congress 
which  would  not  have  voted  a  man  or  a  dollar  to  strengthen  the  force  at 
the  command  of  the  executive  if  a  war  should  be  precipitated.  I  firmly 
believe  the  fact  that  because  so  much  of  forbearance  was  shown  to  the  \ 
South  and  that  we  refrained  from  firing  first  upon  them,  gave  us  great  \ 
moral  strength  when  war  finally  came.  I  am  convinced  that  the  feeling 
that  they  first  fired  upon  the  flag  aroused  our  people  to  a  point  of  enthu 
siasm  which  carried  us  through  the  war." 


122  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

But  there  were  other  important  reasons  why  it  would 
have  been  unwise  at  this  time  to  undertake  to  strengthen 
the  military  force  doing  garrison  duty  in  the  South.  Mr. 
Buchanan  well  remarks  : 

"  The  Senators  from  the  Cotton  States  and  from  Virginia,  where  these 
forts  are  situated,  were  still  occupied  with  their  brother  Senators  in 
devising  means  of  peace  and  conciliation.  .  .  .  Had  the  President  never 
so  earnestly  desired  to  reinforce  the  nine  forts  in  question  at  this  time,  it 
would  have  been  little  short  of  madness  to  undertake  the  task  with  the 
small  force  at  his  command.  .  .  .  Had  the  President  attempted  to  dis 
tribute  the  General's  [Scott's]  thousand  men,  as  he  proposed,  among  the 
numerous  forts  in  the  Cotton  States,  as  well  as  Fortress  Monroe,  their 
absurd  inadequacy  to  the  object  would  have  exhibited  weakness  instead 
•  of  strength.  It  would  have  provoked  instead  of  preventing  collision.  It 
would  have  precipitated  a  civil  war  with  the  Cotton  States  without  the 
slightest  preparation  on  the  part  of  Congress,  and  would  at  once  have 
destroyed  the  then  prevailing  hopes  of  compromise.  Worse  than  all,  it 
would  have  exasperated  Virginia  and  the  other  border  States  then  so 
intent  on  remaining  in  the  Union,  and  might  have  driven  them  at  once 
into  hostile  action." 

On  the  29th  of  December,  John  B.  Floyd,  Secretary  of 
War,  handed  in  his  resignation,  containing  the  charge  that 
the  administration  had  been  guilty  of  a  "  violation  of  solemn 
pledges  and  plighted  faith,"  in  allowing  Major  Anderson  to 
occupy  Fort  Sumter  instead  of  Fort  Moultrie.  Two  days 
before,  on  learning  that  Major  Anderson  had  removed  to 
Fort  Sumter,  as  he  claimed  "  against  the  solemn  pledges  of 
the  Government,"  he  urged  upon  the  President,  as  the  "  one 
remedy  now  left  us  by  which  to  vindicate  our  honor  and 
prevent  civil  war,"  to  allow  him  to  order  Major  Anderson 
to  withdraw  the  garrison  from  the  harbor  of  Charleston 
altogether.  His  letter  of  resignation  immediately  appeared 
in  the  Constitution,  together  with  the  President's  letter  of  31st 
of  December,  accepting  the  same  and  relieving  him  at  once 
from  the  charge  of  the  War  Department;  Joseph  Holt, 
Postmaster- General,  being  authorized  to  fill  his  place  until 
his  successor  should  be  appointed.  The  fact  is,  as  stated  in 


WHY  WAS  NOT  REBELLION  CRUSHED  AT  START?   123 

Mr.  Buchanan's  book,  the  authority  under  which  Major 
Anderson  removed  his  troops  to  Fort  Sumter  was  given  in 
a  letter  of  instructions  "prepared  and  transmitted  to  Major 
Anderson  by  the  Secretary  himself,"  only  a  few  days  before 
that  removal  took  place.  In  a  letter  to  the  War  Department 
of  the  27th  of  December,  which,  Mr.  Buchanan  says,  "  unfor 
tunately  did  not  arrive  in  Washington  until  some  days  after 
its  date/'  Major  Anderson  says :  "  I  will  add  that  many 
things  convinced  me  that  the  authorities  of  the  State  de 
signed  to  proceed  to  a  hostile  act"  (against  Fort  Moultrie) ; 
"  the  very  contingency,"  Mr.  Buchanan  says,  "  on  which  the 
Secretary  had  not  only  authorized  but  directed  the  Major  to 
remove  his  troops  to  Fort  Sumter,  should  he  deem  this  a 
position  of  greater  security."  And  here  I  may  remark  that 
I  well  remember  with  what  delight  Mr.  Holt,  coming  from 
the  Cabinet,  announced  at  the  Post-Office  Department  the 
gratifying  news  of  Major  Anderson's  success  in  transferring 
the  garrison  to  Fort  Sumter.  Mr.  Floyd  embraced  the 
occasion  to  present  and  read  his  letter  of  resignation  in 
Cabinet  session,  and  we  have  the  word  of  General  Holt  for 
saying  that  it  gave  rise  to  "a  scene  exceedingly  dramatic. 
Mr.  Floyd"  (he  says  in  the  "  interview"  already  referred  to) 
"  became  quite  violent,  and,  knowing  he  was  to  go  out  of  the 
Cabinet  on  account  of  his  advanced  acceptances,  he  made 
the  removal  of  Anderson  from  Fort  Moultrie  to  Fort  Sum 
ter  the  pretext  for  language  which  made  his  further  con 
tinuation  in  the  Cabinet  impossible,  and  it  was  a  position  in 
which  he  knew  the  Southern  people  would  sustain  him." 
It  was  at  this  or  a  previous  Cabinet  session,  that,  the  ques 
tion  of  giving  up  the  forts  being  under  discussion,  Judge 
Black  said  : 

"  There  had  never  been  a  period  in  the  history  of  the  English  nation 
when  any  minister  would  propose  to  give  up  to  an  enemy  of  his  Govern 
ment  a  military  post  which  was  capable  of  being  defended,  without  being 
brought  to  the  block.  Mr.  Buchanan,"  he  continues,  "  thought  the  ex 
pression  a  harsh  one,  but  did  not  deny  that  it  was  true.  He  had  no 


124  TUENING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

thought  of  yielding  to  Mr.  Davis's  solicitation  [to  abandon  the  forts  in 
Charleston  harbor].  Floyd  would  have  done  it  at  that  time,  that  is  to 
say,  after  he  was  notified  that  he  must  resign  from  the  Cabinet  for  other 
reasons  or  be  removed.  ...  In  this  determination  [to  assert  the  national 
control  of  the  forts,  arsenals,  custom-houses,  and  other  public  property] 
President  Buchanan  never  wavered.  He  saw  the  drift  toward  war  much 
more  clearly  and  much  earlier  than  any  public  man  of  whom  I  have 
knowledge." 

Mr.  Buchanan  refers  to  what  he  thinks  was  "  a  probable 
cause  for  this  strange  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  Secre 
tary.  This  was,"  he  says,  "  that  three  days  before  the  South 
Carolina  commissioners  reached  Washington,  the  President 
had  communicated  to  him  (23d  December),  through  a  dis 
tinguished  friend  and  kinsman  of  his  own,  a  request  that  he 
should  resign  his  office,  with  a  statement  of  the  reasons  why 
this  was  made.  When  he  heard  this  request  he  displayed 
much  feeling,  but  said  he  would  comply  with  the  President's 
wishes.  It  is  proper  to  state  the  reason  for  this  request. 
On  the  night  before  it  was  made  (22d  December)  the  fact 
was  first  made  known  to  the  President  that  eight  hundred 
and  seventy  State  bonds  for  §1000  each,  held  in  trust  by  the 
Government  for  different  Indian  tribes,  had  been  purloined, 
from  the  Interior  Department  by  Godard  Bailey,  the  clerk 
in  charge  of  them,  and  had  been  delivered  to  William  H. 
Russell,  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Russell,  Majors  &  Wad- 
dell.  Upon  examination  it  was  discovered  that  this  clerk, 
in  lieu  of  the  bonds  abstracted,  had  from  time  to  time  re 
ceived  bills  of  corresponding  amount  from  Russell,  drawn 
by  the  firm  on  John  B.  Floyd,  Secretary  of  War,  and  by 
him  accepted  and  indorsed,  and  this  without  lawful  authority. 
In  consequence  there  was  found  in  the  safe  where  the  Indian 
bonds  had  been  kept,  a  number  of  these  accepted  bills, 
exactly  equal  in  amount  to  §870,000.  These  acceptances 
were  thirteen  in  number,  commencing  on  the  13th  of  Sep 
tember,  1860,  and  had  been  received  by  Mr.  Bailey,  according 
to  his  own  statement,  4  as  collateral  security  for  the  return  of 
the  bonds,'  and  as  such  had  been  placed  by  him  in  the  safe. 


WHY  WAS  NOT  REBELLION  CRUSHED  AT  START?   125 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  last  of  them,  dated  on  the  13th 
of  December,  1860,  for  §135,000,  had  been  drawn  for  the 
precise  sum  necessary  to  make  the  aggregate  amount  of  the 
whole  number  of  bills  exactly  equal  to  that  of  the  abstracted 
bonds." 

These  bills,  being  unlawfully  accepted,  have  never  been 
paid,  leaving  their  innocent  holders  to  suffer  the  loss  of  all 
they  paid  for  them,  which  I  think  was  par  value  in  the 
market.  The  advertisement  of  these  Indian  trust  bonds, 
making  nearly  three  columns,  was  published  daily  in  the 
Constitution  for  a  full  month,  thus  adding  greatly  to  its  re 
ceipts  from  the  very  Government  it  was  at  the  same  time 
striving  to  destroy. 

This  extended  explanation,  touching  Secretary  Floyd's 
resignation,  is  interesting,  not  only  as  an  incident  in  history, 
but  it  no  doubt  discloses  the  main  cause,  at  least,  of  his 
sudden  hostility. 

To  give  even  a  synopsis  of  all  the  accredited  facts  relating 
to  the  matter  of  Fort  Sumter  would  extend  this  article  to 
an  unreasonable  length.  I  have  already  furnished  enough 
to  convince  any  unprejudiced  person  that,  while  there  were 
conflicting  views  on  the  subject  in  his  Cabinet,  there  is  nol 
question  whatever  that  President  Buchanan  pursued  the 
course  in  regard  to  it  that  he  honestly  believed  best  for  the' 
preservation  of  peace  and  the  safety  of  the  Union.  It 
should  not  be  forgotten  that  after  the  removal  of  Major 
Anderson  to  Fort  Sumter,  the  administration  felt  that  there 
was  no  danger  of  the  fort  being  taken.  On  this  point  no 
more  conclusive  evidence  need  be  required  than  what  ap 
pears  in  the  following  letter  of  Mr.  Holt,  Secretary  of  War. 
This  letter,  as  its  date  shows,  was  sent  to  President  Lincoln 
on  the  5th  of  March,  immediately  following  his  inaugura 
tion.  I  should  premise,  what  I  can  do,  not  only  from  personal 
knowledge  and  recollection,  but  also  from  Mr.  Buchanan's 
own  statement  and  from  notes  made  in  my  diary  at  the 
time,  that,  "  on  the  4th  of  March,  at  the  moment  when  Mr. 


126  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

Buchanan's  administration  was  about  to  expire,"  the  Sec 
retary  of  War  received  from  Major  Anderson  a  letter,  with 
inclosures,  declaring  "  that  he  would  riot  be  willing  to  risk 
his  reputation  on  an  attempt  to  throw  reinforcements  into 
Charleston  harbor  with  a  force  of  less  than  twenty  thou 
sand  good  and  well-disciplined  men."  In  his  book,  re 
ferring  to  this  communication  from  Major  Anderson,  Mr. 
Buchanan  correctly  says,  "  This  was  read  by  Mr.  Holt, 
greatly  to  his  own  surprise,  and  that  of  every  member  of 
the  Cabinet."  I  may  add  that  it  was  then  and  there  "  agreed 
that  Mr.  Holt  should  prepare  a  letter  giving  a  history  of 
what  had  been  done  by  Major  Anderson  and  the  Govern 
ment  since  his  removal  to  Fort  Sumter,  and  transmit  it  with 
this  last  communication  to  President  Lincoln  as  early  as 
possible  to-morrow"  (5th  of  March,  1861).  Here  is  Mr. 

Holt's  letter : 

"WAR  DEPARTMENT,  March  5,  1861. 

"  SIR, — I  have  the  honor  to  submit  for  your  consideration  several  let 
ters  with  inclosures  received  on  yesterday  from  Major  Anderson  and  Cap 
tain  Forster  of  the  Corps  of  Engineers,  which  are  of  a  most  important 
arid  unexpected  character.  Why  they  were  unexpected  will  appear  from 
the  following  brief  statement : 

"After  transferring  his  forces  to  Fort  Sumter  he  (Major  Anderson) 
addressed  a  letter  to  this  Department,  under  date  of  the  31st  December, 
1860,  in  which  he  says,  l  Thank  God  !  we  are  now  where  the  Government 
may  send  us  additional  troops  at  its  leisure.  To  be  sure,  the  uncivil 
and  uncourteous  action  of  the  Governor  (of  South  Carolina)  in  prevent 
ing  us  from  purchasing  anything  in  the  city  will  annoy  and  inconven 
ience  us  somewhat ;  still  we  are  safe.'  And  after  referring  to  some  defi 
ciency  in  his  stores,  in  the  articles  of  soap  and  candles,  he  adds :  l  Still 
we  can  cheerfully  put  up  with  the  inconvenience  of  doing  without  them 
for  the  satisfaction  we  feel  in  the  knowledge  that  we  can  command  this 
harbor  as  long  as  our  Government  ivishes  to  keep  it.'  And  again,  on  the  6th 
of  January,  he  wrote :  '  My  position  will,  should  there  be  no  treachery 
among  the  workmen  whom  we  are  compelled  to  retain  for  the  present, 
enable  me  to  hold  this  fort  against  any  force  which  can  be  brought  against 
me ;  and  it  would  enable  me,  in  the  event  of  war,  to  annoy  the  South 
Carolinians  by  preventing  them  from  throwing  supplies  into  their  new 
posts  except  by  the  aid  of  the  Wash  Channel  through  Stono  Kiver.' 

"Before  the  receipt  of  this  communication,  the  Government,  being 


WHY  WAS  NOT  REBELLION  CRUSHED  AT  START?   127 

without  information  as  to  his  condition,  had  despatched  the  Star  of  the 
West  with  troops  and  supplies  for  Fort  Sumter,  but  the  vessel,  having 
been  fired  on  from  a  battery  at  the  entrance  to  the  harbor,  returned 
without  having  reached  her  destination. 

"  On  the  16th  of  January,  1861,  in  replying  to  Major  Anderson's  letters 
of  the  31st  of  December  and  of  the  6th  of  January,  I  said,  '  Your  late 
despatches,  as  well  as  the  very  intelligent  statements  of  Lieutenant  Tal- 
bot,  have  relieved  the  Government  of  the  apprehensions  previously  enter 
tained  for  your  safety.  In  consequence  it  is  not  its  purpose  at  present  to 
reinforce  you.  The  attempt  to  do  so  would  no  doubt  be  attended  by  a 
collision  of  arms  and  effusion  of  blood — a  national  calamity  which  the 
President  is  most  anxious  to  avoid.  You  will,  therefore,  report  frequently 
your  condition,  and  the  character  and  activity  of  the  preparations,  if 
any,  which  may  be  being  made  for  an  attack  upon  the  fort  or  for  ob 
structing  the  Government  in  any  endeavors  it  may  make  to  strengthen 
your  command.  Should  your  despatches  be  of  a  nature  too  important 
to  be  intrusted  to  the  mails,  you  will  convey  them  by  special  messenger. 
Whenever, -in  your  judgment,  additional  supplies  or  reinforcements  are 
necessary  for  your  safety  or  for  a  successful  defence  of  the  fort,  you  will 
at  once  communicate  the  fact  to  this  Department,  and  a  prompt  and 
vigorous  effort  will  be  made  to  forward  them.' 

"  Since  the  date  of  this  letter  Major  Anderson  has  regularly  and  fre 
quently  reported  the  progress  of  the  batteries  being  constructed  around 
him,  and  which  looked  either  to  the  defence  of  the  harbor  or  to  an  attack 
on  his  own  position.  But  he  has  not  suggested  that  these  works  com 
promised  his  safety,  nor  has  he  made  any  request  that  additional  supplies 
or  reinforcements  should  be  sent  to  him.  On  the  contrary,  on  the  30th 
of  January,  1861,  in  a  letter  to  this  Department,  he  uses  this  emphatic 
language :  '  I  do  hope  that  no  attempt  will  be  made  by  our  friends  to 
throw  supplies  in;  their  doing  so  would  do  more  harm  than  good.' 

"  On  the  5th  of  February,  when  referring  to  the  batteries,  etc.,  con 
structed  in  his  vicinity,  he  said,  '  Even  in  their  present  condition  they 
will  make  it  impossible  for  any  hostile  force,  other  than  a  large  and  well- 
appointed  one,  to  enter  this  harbor,  and  the  chances  are  that  it  will  then 
be  at  a  great  sacrifice  of  life  ;'  and  in  a  postscript  he  adds  :  '  Of  course, 
in  speaking  of  forcing  an  entrance,  I  do  not  refer  to  the  little  stratagem 
of  a  small  party  slipping  in.'  This  suggestion  of  a  stratagem  was  well 
considered  in  connection  with  all  the  information  that  could  be  obtained 
bearing  upon  it,  and  in  consequence  of  the  vigilance  and  number  of  the 
guard-boats  in  and  outside  of  the  harbor  it  was  rejected  as  impracticable. 

"  In  view  of  these  very  distinct  declarations,  and  of  the  earnest  desire 
to  avoid  a  collision  as  long  as  possible,  it  was  deemed  entirely  safe  to 
adhere  to  the  line  of  policy  indicated  in  my  letter  of  the  16th  January, 


128  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

which  has  been  already  quoted.  In  that  Major  Anderson  had  been  re 
quested  to  report  '  at  once,'  '  whenever,  in  his  judgment,  additional  sup 
plies  or  reinforcements  were  necessary  for  his  safety  or  for  a  successful 
defence  of  the  fort.'  So  long,  therefore,  as  he  remained  silent  upon  this 
point  the  Government  felt  that  there  was  no  ground  for  apprehension. 
Still,  as  the  necessity  for  action  might  arise  at  any  moment,  an  expedi 
tion  has  been  quietly  prepared,  and  is  ready  to  sail  from  New  York  on  a 
few  hours'  notice,  for  transporting  troops  and  supplies  to  Fort  Sumter. 
This  step  was  taken  under  the  supervision  of  General  Scott,  who  arranged 
its  details,  and  who  regarded  the  reinforcements  thus  provided  for  as 
sufficient  for  the  occasion.  The  expedition,  however,  is  not  upon  a  scale 
approaching  the  seemingly  extravagant  estimates  of  Major  Anderson  and 
Captain  Forster,  now  offered  for  the  first  time,  and  for  the  disclosures  of 
which  the  Government  was  wholly  unprepared. 

"  The  declaration  now  made  by  the  major  that  he  would  not  be  willing 
to  risk  his  reputation  on  an  attempt  to  throw  reinforcements  into 
Charleston  harbor,  and  with  a  view  of  holding  possession  of  the  same, 
with  a  force  of  less  than  twenty  thousand  good  and  well-disciplined  men, 
takes  the  Department  by  surprise,  as  his  previous  correspondence  con 
tained  no  such  intimation. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be, 

"  Very  respectfully, 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"  J.  HOLT. 

"  To  THE  PRESIDENT." 

But  I  must  bring  this  imperfect  sketch  to  a  close,  imper 
fect  because  there  are  so  many  more  facts  of  like  import 
that  might  easily  be  given.  It  is,  or  ought  to  be,  well 
known  that,  for  one  month  after  President  Lincoln's  acces 
sion,  the  policy  of  forbearance  towards  the  seceding  States 
was  pursued  by  him  to  an  extent  far  beyond  anything 
his  predecessor  had  done  in  that  direction.  Mr.  Gideon 
Welles,  his  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  has  publicly  declared 
that  "  at  the  time  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  inauguration,  and  for 
several  weeks  thereafter,  he  and  others  indulged  in  the 
hope  of  a  peaceful  solution  of  the  pending  questions,  and  a 
desire,  amounting  almost  to  a  belief,  that  Virginia  and  the 
other  border  States  might,  by  forbearance  and  a  calm  and 
conciliatory  policy,  continue  faithful  to  the  Union.  .  .  . 
And  to  conciliate  the  people  of  Virginia  and  the  convention 


WHY  WAS  NOT  REBELLION  CRUSHED  AT  START?  129 

then  in  session,  the  President  desired  that  there  should  be 
no  step  taken  which  would  give  offence." 

This  is  true  beyond  a  doubt.  It  was  in  this  spirit  that 
President  Lincoln  delivered  his  Inaugural  Address,  and  in 
his  message  to  Congress  of  the  4th  of  July,  1861,  he  says  : 

"  The  policy  chosen  looked  to  the  exhaustion  of  all  peaceable  measures 
before  a  resort  to  any  stronger  ones.  It  sought  to  hold  the  public  places 
and  property  not  already  wrested  from  the  Government,  and  to.  collect 
the  revenue,  relying  for  the  rest  on  time,  discussion,  and  the  ballot-box. 
It  promised  a  continuance  of  the  mails  at  Government  expense  to  the 
very  people  who  were  resisting  the  Government,  and  it  gave  repeated 
pledges  against  any  disturbance  to  any  of  the  people  or  any  of  their 
rights.  Of  all  that  a  President  might  constitutionally  and  justifiably  do 
in  such  a  case,  everything  was  forborne  without  which  it  was  possible  to 
keep  the  Government  on  foot." 

Need  more  be  said  to  satisfy  the  most  censorious  critic 
of  President  Buchanan's  loyalty  and  honesty  of  purpose  ? 
For  my  own  part,  I  but  follow  the  precepts  of  the  Golden 
Rule  in  presenting,  while  I  may,  this  humble  tribute  in  his 
behalf,  and  thus  bearing  testimony,  as  I  do,  to  his  unsullied 
honor,  patriotism,  and  fidelity.  As  General  Holt  said  in 
his  late  "  interview,"  so  I  declare  :  "  I  wish  distinctly  to  say  I 
that  I  believe  Mr.  Buchanan  was  in  all  respects,  and  at  all 
times,  true  to  the  Union,"  and  that  "  he  did  the  best  he 
could  under  the  circumstances  to  preserve  it."  Judge  Black 
is  not  less  explicit.  Said  he  :  "  To  charge  him  [President  I 
Buchanan]  with  unfaithfulness  to  the  TJnion  is  the  foulest  \ 
slander  that  was  ever  uttered.  To  say  that  he  was  in 
fluenced  by  any  feeling  akin  to  personal  fear,  or  that  he 
ever  acted  or  forbore  to  act  without  the  sanction  of  his  con 
science,  is  an  outrage  upon  truth  too  gross  to  be  endured. 
He  had  faults.  But  what  faults  may  not  be  forgiven  to  a 
man  of  great  ability  and  pure  integrity  who  spent  the  best 
years  of  his  life  in  the  public  service  ?  He  was  as  honest  a 
patriot  as  ever  lived,  and  no  man  ever  sat  in  the  Presiden 
tial  chair  that  knew  better  than  he  did  how  to  enforce  the 
respect  due  to  himself  and  his  office." 

9 


130  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

CHAPTER    XII. 

DOCTRINE    OF    COERCION. 

Views  of  President  Buchanan,  Madison,  and  Senator  Johnson — Letters 
of  Ex-President  Buchanan — Forbearance  of  both  President  Bu 
chanan  and  Lincoln  towards  the  South. 

IT  can  be  no  satisfaction  to  any  true  American  citizen  to 
entertain  the  belief  that  any  President  of  the  United  States 
has  ever  been  guilty  of  treason,  or  an  inclination  towards 
treason,  either  in  act  or  thought.  On  the  contrary,  it  must 
be  a  subject  of  congratulation  to  every  such  citizen  to  know, 
if  it  really  be  the  fact,  that  we  have  never  yet  had  a  Presi 
dent  of  whom  it  may  not  be  said,  "  He  was  honestly  de 
voted  to  what  he  conscientiously  believed  to  be  the  best 
interests  of  this  country;  in  a  word,  he  was  a  patriot." 

In  the  heat  of  party  excitement,  accusations  more  or  less 
grave  have  been  made  against  each  and  all  of  our  presi 
dents,  not  excepting  the  Father  of  his  Country ;  but  prob 
ably  no  one  of  them  has  ever  been  pursued  with  charges 
more  serious  or  with  a  rancor  more  unrelenting  than  James 
Buchanan,  not  only  during  his  presidency  and  the  subse 
quent  years  of  his  retirement,  but  since  his  death. 

I  do  not  propose  to  enter  upon  a  discussion  of  the  ques 
tions  generally  which  divided  the  Democratic  and  Republi 
can  parties  at  and  after  his  election,  but  to  touch  briefly 
upon  two  points  only :  1.  The  unjust  censure  cast  upon 
Mr.  Buchanan  in  the  allegation  that  he  was  opposed  to 
coercing  the  seceding  States;  and,  2.  The  charge  that  he 
favored  the  South  to  an  extent  in  its  nature  treasonable. 

Regarding  the  first  allegation,  it  would  be  presumption 
in  me  to  attempt  to  offer  any  observations  of  my  own  after 
Judge  Black's  able  exposition  of  this  subject  in  the  June 
number  of  The  Galaxy ;  but  I  think  it  will  be  interesting 


DOCTRINE  OF  COERCION.  131 

to  the  general  reader  to  hear  what  Mr.  Buchanan  himself 
says  on  this  much- controverted  doctrine,  and,  as  I  have  his 
book  before  me,  entitled  "  Mr.  Buchanan's  Administration 
on  the  Eve  of  the  Rebellion,"  published  in  1866,  I  will 
make  a  copious  extract  from  it. 

To  illustrate  his  views,  he  quotes  from  his  annual  mes 
sage  of  December  3, 1860,  to  Congress,  going  at  length  into 
facts  and  arguments  to  show  that  the  right  of  a  State  to 
secede  from  the  Union  does  not  exist  under  the  Constitu 
tion.  He  says : 

"  In  order  to  justify  secession  as  a  constitutional  remedy,  it  must  be  on 
the  principle  that  the  Federal  Government  is  a  mere  voluntary  associa 
tion  of  States,  to  be  dissolved  at  pleasure  by  any  one  of  the  contracting 
parties.  If  this  be  so,  the  Confederacy  is  a  rope  of  sand,  to  be  pene 
trated  and  dissolved  by  the  first  adverse  wave  of  public  opinion  in  any 
of  the  States.  In  this  manner  our  thirty-three  States  may  resolve  them 
selves  into  as  many  petty,  jarring,  and  hostile  republics,  each  one  retiring 
from  the  Union  without  responsibility  whenever  any  sudden  excitement 
might  impel  them  to  such  a  course.  By  this  process  a  Union  might  be 
entirely  broken  inio  fragments  in  a  few  weeks,  which  cost  our  forefathers 
many  years  of  toil,  privation,  and  blood  to  establish.  Such  a  principle 
is  wholly  inconsistent  with  the  history  as  well  as  the  character  of  the 
Federal  Constitution." 

After  enforcing  this  patriotic  view  of  the  subject,  demon 
strating  the  illegality  and  folly  as  well  as  the  wickedness 
of  secession,  he  proceeds  : 

"  Then  follows  the  opinion  expressed  in  the  message,  that  the  Consti 
tution  has  conferred  no  power  on  the  Federal  Government  to  coerce  a 
State  to  remain  in  the  Union.  [The  italicizing  is  his.]  The  following  is 
the  language :  '  The  question,  fairly  stated,  is,  Has  the  Constitution  dele 
gated  to  Congress  the  power  to  coerce  a  State  into  submission  which  is 
attempting  to  withdraw  from  the  Confederacy?  If  answered  in  the 
affirmative,  it  must  be  on  the  principle  that  the  power  has  been  conferred 
upon  Congress  to  make  war  against  a  State. 

"  *  After  much  serious  reflection  [this  and  the  following  paragraph  he 
quoted  from  his  message]  I  have  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  no  such 
power  has  been  delegated  to  Congress  or  to  any  other  department  of  the 
Federal  Government.  It  is  manifest,  upon  an  inspection  of  the  Constitu 
tion,  that  this  is  not  among  the  specific  and  enumerated  powers  granted 


132  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

to  Congress ;  and  it  is  equally  apparent  that  its  exercise  is  not  necessary 
and  proper  for  carrying  into  execution  any  one  of  these  powers.  So  far 
from  this  power  having  been  delegated  to  Congress,  it  was  expressly 
refused  by  the  convention  which  framed  the  Constitution. 

"  '  It  appears  from  the  proceedings  of  that  body  that  on  the  31st  May, 
1787,  the  clause  "  authorizing  an  exertion  of  the  force  of  the  whole  against  a 
delinquent  State"  came  up  for  consideration.  Mr.  Madison  opposed  it  in  a 
brief  but  powerful  speech,  from  which  I  shall  extract  but  a  single  sen 
tence.  He  observed :  "  The  use  of  force  against  a  State  would  look  more 
like  a  declaration  of  war  than  an  infliction  of  punishment,  and  would 
probably  be  considered  by  the  party  attacked  as  a  dissolution  of  all  pre 
vious  compacts  by  which  it  might  be  bound  "  Upon  his  motion  the 
clause  was  unanimously  postponed,  and  was  never,  I  believe,  again  pre 
sented.  Soon  afterward,  on  the  8th  of  June,  1787,  when  incidentally  ad 
verting  to  the  subject,  he  said :  "  Any  government  for  the  United  States 
formed  on  the  supposed  practicability  of  using  force  against  the  un 
constitutional  proceedings  of  the  States  would  prove  as  visionary  and 
fallacious  as  the  government  of  Congress,"  evidently  meaning  the  then 
existing  Congress  of  the  old  Confederation.' 

"  The  Republican  party  have  severely  but  unjustly  criticised  this  por 
tion  of  the  message,  simply  because  they  have  not  chosen  to  take  the 
distinction  between  the  power  to  make  war  against  a  State  in  its  sover 
eign  character,  and  the  undoubted  power  to  enforce  the  laws  of  Congress 
directly  against  individual  citizens  thereof  within  its  limits.  It  was 
chiefly  to  establish  this  very  distinction  that  the  Federal  Constitution 
was  framed.  The  Government  of  the  old  Confederation  could  act  only 
by  requisitions  on  the  different  States,  and  these,  as  we  have  seen,  obeyed 
or  disobeyed  according  to  their  own  discretion.  In  case  of  disobedience, 
there  was  no  resort  but  to  actual  force  against  them,  which  would  at  once 
have  destroyed  the  Confederacy.  To  remove  the  necessity  for  such  a 
dangerous  alternative,  the  present  Constitution,  passing  over  the  govern 
ments  of  the  States,  conferred  upon  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
the  power  to  execute  its  own  laws  directly  against  their  people.  Thus 
all  danger  of  collision  between  the  Federal  and  State  authorities  was 
removed,  and  the  indissoluble  nature  of  the  Federal  Union  established. 
The  Eepublican  party  have,  notwithstanding,  construed  the  message  to 
mean  a  denial  by  the  President  of  the  power  to  enforce  the  laws  against 
the  citizens  of  a  State  after  secession,  and  even  after  actual  rebellion. 
The  whole  tenor,  not  only  of  this  message,  but  of  the  special  message  of 
January  8,  1861,  contradicts  and  disproves  this  construction.  Indeed, 
in  the  first  clause  of  the  message  immediately  preceding  that  relied  upon, 
and  whilst  South  Carolina  was  rapidly  rushing  to  secession,  he  expressed 
his  determination  to  execute  the  revenue  laws  whenever  these  should  be 


DOCTRINE  OF  COEKCION.  133 

resisted,  and  to  defend  the  public  property  against  all  assaults.  And  in 
the  special  message,  after  South  Carolina  and  other  States  had  seceded, 
he  reiterated  this  declaration,  maintaining  both  his  right  and  his  duty  to 
employ  military  force  for  this  purpose.  Having  proved  secession  to  be  a 
mere  nullity,  he  considered  the  States  which  had  seceded  to  be  still 
within  the  Union,  and  their  people  equally  bound  as  they  had  been 
before  to  obey  the  laws. 

"The  disunionists,  unlike  the  Republicans,  placed  the  correct  con 
struction  upon  both  messages,  and  therefore  denounced  them  in  severe 
terms. 

"  The  President  was  gratified  to  observe  that  Senator  Johnson,  of  Ten 
nessee,  a  few  days  after  the  date  of  the  first  message,  placed  this  subject 
in  its  true  light,  and  thereby  exposed  himself  to  similar  denunciations. 
In  his  speech  of  December  18,  1860  ('Congressional  Globe,'  p.  119),  he 
says,  1 1  do  not  believe  the  Federal  Government  has  the  power  to  coerce 
a  State,  for  by  the  eleventh  amendment  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  it  is  expressly  provided  that  you  cannot  even  put  one  of  the  States 
of  this  Confederacy  before  one  of  the  courts  of  the  country  as  a  party.  As 
a  State,  the  Federal  Government  has  no  power  to  coerce  it ;  but  it  is  a 
member  of  the  compact  to  which  it  agreed  in  common  with  the  other 
States,  and  this  Government  has  the  right  to  pass  laws,  and  to  enforce 
those  laws  upon  individuals  within  the  limits  of  each  State.  While  the 
one  proposition  is  clear,  the  other  is  equally  so.  This  Government  can, 
by  the  Constitution  of  the  country,  and  by  the  laws  enacted  in  con 
formity  with  the  Constitution,  operate  upon  individuals,  and  has  the 
right  and  the  power  not  to  coerce  a  State,  but  to  enforce  and  execute  the 
law  upon  individuals  within  the  limits  of  a  State.' 

"  Sound  doctrine,  and  in  conformity  with  that  of  the  framers  ot  the 
Constitution!  Any  other  might,  according  to  Mr.  Madison,  have  been 
construed  by  the  States  in  rebellion  as  a  dissolution  of  their  connection 
with  the  other  States,  and  recognized  them  as  independent  belligerents 
on  equal  terms  with  the  United  States.  Happily,  our  civil  war  was  un 
dertaken  and  prosecuted  in  self-defence,  not  to  coerce  a  State,  but  to  en 
force  the  execution  of  the  laws  within  the  States  against  individuals,  and 
to  suppress  an  unjust  rebellion  raised  by  a  conspiracy  among  them  against 
the  Government  of  the  United  States." 

Such  was  Mr.  Buchanan's  belief  in  regard  to  the  power 
of  the  general  Government  to  coerce  a  State.  His  official 
acts  were  made  to  conform  to  this  conviction,  and  out  of 
this  came  the  charge  of  weakness  and  treachery  which  I 
will  also  meet,  not  so  much  by  any  remarks  of  my  own  as 


134  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

by  the  testimony  readily  at  hand  of  other  witnesses  entitled 
to  the  fullest  credit.  The  facts,  however,  speak  for  them 
selves.  Judge  Black,  in  the  article  referred  to,  has  pre 
sented  Mr.  Buchanan's  position  in  this  regard  clearly  and 
truthfully,  and  I  venture  the  opinion  that  there  are  few, 
if  any,  fair-minded  persons  of  any  political  party  whatever, 
who,  when  they  bring  to  mind  the  actual  state  of  things 
existing  during  the  closing  months  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  ad 
ministration,  will  not  admit  that  great  injustice  has  been 
done  him  by  the  thoughtless  accusations  against  him  of 
timidity,  weakness,  and  treachery.  That  he  was  cautious 
there  is  no  doubt,  and  it  is  equally  certain  now  that  in  his 
caution  there  was  great  wisdom.  Had  he  been  rash,  instead 
of  cautious  and  forbearing  as  he  was,  in  all  probability 
active  hostilities  would  have  been  inaugurated  in  January 
or  February,  1861.  Maryland  as  well  as  Virginia  would 
have  been  forced  to  declare  for  secession,  the  rebels  would 
have  seized  and  held  Washington,  as  I  firmly  believe  it  was 
their  intention  to  do,  and,  as  was  also  their  purpose  I  am 
just  as  firmly  convinced,  Mr.  Lincoln's  inauguration  wrould 
have  been  prevented.  The  city  was  swarming  with  seces 
sionists  both  in  and  out  of  office,  and  there  was  a  feeling 
of  insecurity  fearful  to  contemplate,  which  found  relief  only 
when,  through  the  patriotic  foresight  of  the  Hon.  Joseph 
Holt,  Secretary  of  War,  supported  by  the  President  and  the 
rest  of  the  Cabinet,  a  well-appointed  body  of  United  States 
troops  was  brought  here  from  the  West  to  preserve  the 
public  peace.  The  policy  of  the  Government,  however,  was 
purely  defensive ;  and  this  policy  and  the  effect  of  it  can 
not  be  better  illustrated  than  by  the  answer  made  by  Mr. 
Holt,  in  a  publication,  in  September,  1865,  to  the  false 
charge  that  the  cannon  of  Fort  Sumter  had  "  been  muzzled 
by  treaty  stipulations." 
He  says : 

"  That  the  batteries  around  Sumter  were  not  fired  upon  while  in  course 
of  construction,  was  because  the  President  shrank  from  the  dread  respon- 


DOCTRINE  OF  COERCION.  135 

sibility  of  inaugurating  civil  war,  and  deemed  forbearance  his  duty ;  not 
because  he  was  restrained  by  any  agreement  or  understanding  whatever. 
Looking  at  the  glorious  results  of  the  war,  and  remembering  how  won- 
drously  Providence  has  dealt  with  us  in  its  progress,  and  how  sublimely 
the  firing  upon,  instead  of  from,  Fort  Sumter,  served  to  arouse,  instruct, 
and  unite  the  nation,  and  to  inflame  its  martial  and  patriotic  spirit,  we 
stand  awe  struck  and  mute ;  and  that  man  would  be  bold  indeed  who, 
in  the  presence  of  all  that  has  occurred,  should  now  venture  to  maintain 
that  the  policy  of  forbearance  was  not  at  the  moment  the  true  policy." 

Nor,  as  is  well  known,  did  this  policy  of  forbearance 
cease  with  Mr.  Buchanan's  administration.  It  was  con 
tinued  for  some  time  after  Mr.  Lincoln's  inauguration,  and 
to  a  degree  much  beyond  anything  of  the  kind  under  his 
predecessor.  They  even  went  so  far  (according  to  Judge 
Black's  statement,  which  I  have  not  seen  contradicted)  as 
to  vote  six  to  one  in  Cabinet  in  favor  of  surrendering  Fort 
Sumter !  Strange,  indeed,  if  such  were  the  fact !  But,  be 
this  as  it  may,  we  have  the  undoubted  testimony  of  the 
Hon.  Gideon  Welles,  the  able  and  courteous  Secretary  of 
the  Navy  during  the  administrations  of  Presidents  Lincoln 
and  Johnson,  that  extreme  leniency  was  practised  towards 
the  people  in  the  southern  States  up  to  the  firing  upon  Fort 
Sumter;  and  this  may  be  taken  as  evincing  on  the  part  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  Cabinet  the  strongest  approbation  of 
Mr.  Buchanan's  line  of  policy,  much  more  restrained  to  be 
sure,  in  the  same  direction.  Allow  me  to  reproduce  here 
some  of  Mr.  "Welles's  observations,  as  given  in  The  Galaxy 
of  July  last  on  this  point.  He  remarks  : 

"  At  the  time  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  inauguration,  and  for  several  weeks 
thereafter,  he  and  others  indulged  the  hope  of  a  peaceful  solution  of  the 
pending  questions,  and  a  desire,  amounting  almost  to  a  belief,  that  Vir 
ginia  and  the  other  border  States  might,  by  forbearance  and  a  calm  and 
conciliatory  policy,  continue  faithful  to  the  Union.  Two-thirds  of  the 
convention  then  in  session  at  Richmond  were  elected  as  opponents  of 
secession,  and  the  people  of  that  State  were  in  about  that  proportion  op 
posed  to  it.  But  the  Union  element  in  the  convention  and  out  of  it  was 
passive  and  acquiescent,  while  the  secessionists  were  positive,  aggressive, 
and  violent ;  and,  as  is  almost  always  the  case  in  revolutionary  times,  the 


136  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

aggressive  force  continually  increased  in  strengh  and  exactions  at  the  ex 
pense  of  those  who  were  peacefully  inclined.  It  was  charged  that  the 
new  administration  was  inimical  to  the  South,  was  hostile  to  Southern 
institutions,  and  would  use  its  power  to  deprive  the  people  and  States  of 
their  rights  by  coercive  measures.  In  order  to  counteract  these  un 
founded  prejudices  and  to  do  away  with  these  misrepresentations,  which 
were  embarrassing  to  the  administration  just  launched  upon  a  turbulent 
sea,  and  to  conciliate  the  people  of  Virginia  and  the  convention  then  in  session, 
the  President  desired  that  there  should  be  no  step  taken  which  would  give 
offence,  and  to  prevent  any  cause  of  irritation,  he  desired  that  not  even  the 
ordinary  local  political  changes  which  are  usual  on  a  change  of  adminis 
tration  should  be  made.  In  regard  to  the  navy-yard  at  Norfolk,  he  was 
particularly  solicitous  that  there  should  be  no  action  taken  which  would 
indicate  a  want  of  confidence  in  the  authorities  and  people,  or  which 
would  be  likely  to  beget  distrust.  No  ships  were  to  be  withdrawn,  no 
fortifications  erected.  .  .  . 

"  Not  until  the  last  of  March  did  the  President  fully  and  finally  decide 
to  attempt  to  relieve  Fort  Sumter.  .  .  . 

"  The  attempt  to  relieve  Major  Anderson,  though  a  military  question, 
was  a  political  necessity.  It  became  a  duty  of  the  Government  after  all  con 
ciliatory  efforts  were  exhausted" 

In  allusion  to  his  order  of  April  18, 1861,  to  Commodore 
Paulding,  "  to  proceed  forthwith  to  Norfolk  and  take  com 
mand  of  all  the  naval  forces  there  afloat,"  and  "  with  the 
means  placed  at  his  command  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  pro 
tect  and  place  beyond  danger  the  vessels  and  property  be 
longing  to  the  United  States,"  he  says : 

"  This  order  was  to  repel,  not  to  assail ;  the  administration  continued  to 
be  forbearing,  and  to  the  last  was  not  aggressive.  Extreme  men  were  dis 
satisfied  and  censorious  because  the  administration  did  not  attack,  though 
not  prepared.  On  to  Sumter  was  the  word,  as  at  a  later  period  the  cry, 
equally  inconsiderate,  was,  '  On  to  Richmond.' " 

"Without  specifying  the  many  slanders  promulgated 
against  Mr.  Buchanan  in  respect  to  his  conduct  and  senti 
ments  touching  the  war  after  its  commencement  and  during 
its  progress,  I  think  the  time  has  arrived  to  lay  before  the 
public  extracts  of  letters  from  him  in  my  possession,  which 
ought  to  remove  the  false  impressions  that  many  persons 


DOCTRINE  OF  COERCION.  137 

have  no  doubt  honestly  entertained  on  the  subject,  from  too 
confident  a  reliance  upon  reckless  partisan  statements.  I 
shall  omit,  mostly,  those  parts  of  a  personal  or  private 
nature,  confining  myself  mainly  to  his  observations  upon 
public  affairs.  His  first  letter,  which  I  will  offer,  is  dated — 

"  WHEATLAND,  NEAR  LANCASTER,  July  13, 1861. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — My  late  severe  illness  has  hitherto  prevented  me 
from  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  your  kind  letter  of  May  last.  .  .  . 

"  The  future  of  our  country  presents  a  dark  cloud  through  which  my 
vision  cannot  penetrate.  The  assault  upon  Fort  Sumter  was  the  com 
mencement  of  war  by  the  Confederate  States,  and  no  alternative  was  left 
but  to  prosecute  it  with  vigor  on  our  part.  Up  to  and  until  all  social  and 
political  relations  ceased  between  the  secession  leaders  and  myself,  I  had 
often  warned  them  that  the  North  would  rise  to  a  man  against  them  if 
such  an  assault  were  made.  No  alternative  seems  now  to  be  left  but  to 
prosecute  hostilities,  unless  the  seceding  States  shall  return  to  their  alle 
giance,  or  until  it  shall  be  demonstrated  that  this  object,  which  is  nearest 
my  heart,  cannot  be  accomplished.  From  present  appearances  it  seems 
certain  that  they  would  accept  no  terms  of  compromise  short  of  an  abso 
lute  recognition  of  their  independence,  which  is  impossible.  I  am  glad 
that  General  Scott  does  not  underrate  the  strength  of  his  enemy,  which 
would  be  a  great  fault  in  a  commander.  With  all  my  heart  and  soul  I 
wish  him  success.  I  think  that  some  very  unfit  military  appointments 
have  been  made,  from  which  we  may  suffer  in  some  degree  in  the  begin 
ning,  but  ere  long  merit  will  rise  to  its  appropriate  station.  It  was  just 
so  at  the  commencement  of  the  war  of  1812.  I  was  rejoiced  at  the  ap 
pointment  of  General  Dix,  and  believe  he  will  do  both  himself  and  the 
country  honor. 

"  Very  respectfully,  your  friend, 

"JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

"HON.  HORATIO  KING." 

"  WHEATLAND,  September  18, 1861. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  think  I  can  perceive  in  the  public  mind  a  more 
fixed,  resolute,  and  determined  purpose  than  ever  to  prosecute  the  war  to 
a  successful  termination  with  all  the  men  and  means  in  our  power.  En 
listments  are  now  proceeding  much  more  rapidly  than  a  few  weeks  ago, 
and  I  am  truly  glad  of  it.  The  time  has  passed  for  offering  compromises 
and  terms  of  peace  to  the  seceded  States.  We  well  know  that  under 
existing  circumstances,  they  would  accept  of  nothing  less  than  a  recog 
nition  of  their  independence,  which  it  is  impossible  that  we  should  grant. 


138  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

There  is  a  time  for  all  things  under  the  sun,  but  surely  this  is  not  the 
moment  for  paralyzing  the  arm  of  the  national  administration  by  a  sui 
cidal  conflict  among  ourselves,  but  for  bold,  energetic,  and  united  action. 
The  Democratic  party  has  ever  been  devoted  to  the  Constitution  and  the 
Union,  and  I  rejoice  that  among  the  many  thousands  who  have  rushed  to 
their  defence  in  this  hour  of  peril,  a  large  majority  belong  to  that  time- 
honored  party. 

"  I  sat  down  to  write  you  a  few  lines,  but  find  that  my  letter  has  swelled 
into  large  proportions. 

"  From  your  friend, 

"  Very  respectfully, 

"JAMES  BUCHANAN. 
"HON.  HOKATIO  KING." 

"  WHEATLAND,  NEAR  LANCASTER,  November  12,  1861. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, —  ...  By  the  by,  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  how  it  was 
possible  to  mystify  so  plain  a  subject  under  the  laws  of  war  as  an  ex 
change  of  prisoners  with  the  rebels,  so  as  to  make  it  mean  a  recognition 
in  any  form,  however  remote,  of  their  confederacy.  It  admits  nothing 
but  that  your  enemy,  whether  pirate,  rebel,  Algerine,  or  regular  govern 
ment,  has  got  your  soldiers  in  his  possession.  The  exchange  admits 
nothing  beyond.  The  laws  of  humanity  are  not  confined  to  any  other 
limit.  The  more  barbarous  and  cruel  the  enemy,  the  greater  is  the  neces 
sity  for  an  exchange,  because  the  greater  is  the  danger  that  they  will  shed 
the  blood  of  your  soldiers.  I  do  not  apply  this  remark  to  the  Confederate 
States,  and  only  use  it  by  way  of  illustration.  I  believe  they  have  not 
treated  their  prisoners  cruelly. 

"  They  do  not  seem  to  understand  at  Washington  another  plain  prin 
ciple  of  the  law  of  nations,  and  that  is,  that  while  the  capture  and  con 
fiscation  of  private  property  at  sea  is  still  permissible,  this  is  not  the  case 
on  land.  Such  are  all  the  authorities.  The  Treaty  of  Ghent  recognized 
slaves  as  private  property,  and  therefore  they  were  to  be  restored ;  and 
we  paid  for  all  our  army  consumed  in  Mexico.  The  rebels  have  violated 
this  law  in  the  most  reckless  manner.  .  .  . 

"  From  your  friend, 

"  Very  respectfully, 

"JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

"HoN.  HORATIO  KING." 

"  WHEATLAND,  January  28,  1862. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, —  ...  I  do  most  earnestly  hope  that  our  army  may 
be  able  to  do  something  effective  before  the  first  of  April.  If  not,  there 
is  great  danger  not  merely  of  British  but  of  European  interference. 


DOCTRINE  OF  COERCION.  139 

There  will  then  be  such  a  clamor  for  cotton  among  the  millions  of  oper 
atives  dependent  upon  it  for  bread,  both  in  England  and  on  the  Continent, 
that  I  fear  for  the  blockade. 

"  From  my  heart  I  wish  Stanton  success,  not  only  for  his  own  sake  but 
for  that  of  the  country.  .  .  I  believe  him  to  be  a  truly  honest  man, 
who  will  never  sanction  corruption,  though  he  may  not  be  quite  able  to 
grapple  with  treason  as  the  lion  grapples  with  his  prey. 

"  I  remain,  very  respectfully,  your  friend, 

"JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

"HON.  HORATIO  KING." 

"  WHEATLAND,  NEAR  LANCASTER,  February  10,  1862. 
"  MY  DEAR  SIR, —  ...  I  trust  that  our  late  victories  may  be  the  pre 
lude  to  those  more  decided,  and  that,  ere  the  spring  opens,  we  may  be  in 
such  a  condition  as  to  afford  no  pretext  to  England  and  France  to  inter 
fere  in  our  domestic  affairs. 

"  From  your  friend,  very  respectfully, 

"JAMES  BUCHANAN. 
"HON.  HORATIO  KING." 

I  regret  that  from  this  time  till  near  the  close  of  the  war 
our  correspondence  was  suspended ;  but  I  heard  from  him 
frequently  through  common  friends,  and  know  that  he 
remained  faithful  and  true  to  the  end.  In  the  month  of 
August,  1866,  being  in  the  city  of  Portland,  Maine,  I  took 
occasion  to  have  published  in  the  Eastern  Argus  a  highly 
patriotic  letter  which  he  addressed,  on  the  28th  of  Septem 
ber,  1861,  to  Samuel  A.  Worth,  Esq.,  in  answer  to  an  invi 
tation  from  him, "  as  chairman  of  the  appropriate  committee, 
to  attend  and  address  a  Union  meeting  of  the  citizens  of 
Chester  and  Lancaster  Counties,  to  be  held  at  Hayesville, 
on  the  1st  of  October."  He  excused  himself  on  account  of 
feeble  health,  but  said :  "  Were  it  possible  for  me  to  address 
your  meeting,  waiving  all  other  topics,  I  should  confine 
myself  to  a  solemn  and  earnest  appeal  to  my  countrymen, 
and  especially  those  without  families,  to  volunteer  for  the 
war,  and  join  the  many  thousands  of  brave  and  patriotic 
volunteers  who  are  already  in  the  field."  He  concluded 
by  saying,  that  "  until  that  happy  day  shall  arrive  [of  the 


140  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

return  of  the  seceding  States],  it  will  be  our  duty  to  sup 
port  the  President  with  all  the  men  and  means  at  the  com 
mand  of  the  country,  in  a  vigorous  and  successful  prosecu 
tion  of  the  war."  Under  date  of  August  29,  1866,  refer 
ring  to  this  "  Hayesville  letter,"  as  he  termed  it,  he  said  in 
a  letter  to  me,  "  I  thank  you  for  having  caused  it  to  be  pub 
lished.  It  is  in  perfect  consistency  with  all  I  have  written 
or  said." 

If  he  was  not  as  prominently  active  during  the  war  as 
might  have  been,  the  secret  of  it  may  perhaps  be  discov 
ered  in  his  reply  to  the  following  letter,  the  production  of 
which  in  this  familiar  communication  (since,  contrary  to 
my  usual  custom,  I  happened  to  retain  a  copy)  will,  I  trust, 
be  excused : 

"WASHINGTON,  April  22, 1865. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — It  is  a  long  time  since  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of 
receiving  a  letter  from  you,  and,  although  I  believe  the  last  which  passed 
between  us  was  from  me,  I  venture  again  to  address  you,  for  within  the 
past  week  my  thoughts  have  been  frequently  directed  toward  you  and 
the  scenes  of  the  last  few  weeks  of  your  administration.  The  frightful 
tragedy  just  enacted  in  our  midst  appears  only  as  the  natural  sequence 
of  the  acts  of  the  rebel  conspirators  in  commencing  first  to  denounce  you 
because  you  resisted  their  efforts  to  take  possession  of  or  break  up  the 
Government,  and  next  in  openly  assailing  the  Government  by  fire  and 
sword  after  the  reins  had  passed  from  your  hands.  I  have  felt  a  strong 
desire  to  hear  from  you,  not  only  in  months  past,  but  especially  in  this 
period  when  the  whole  heart  of  the  nation  is  bowed  and  stricken  with 
grief.  In  all  the  letters  I  have  from  you  wherein  you  speak  of  the  re 
bellion,  it  is  a  pleasure  and  a  consolation  to  know  that  your  declarations, 
and  hopes,  and  prayers  are  all  for  your  country  and  its  brave  defenders, 
and  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  few  if  any  of  our  fellow-citizens  can 
be  more  deeply  moved  than  you  yourself  must  be  at  the  awful  assassina 
tion  of  President  Lincoln.  Why,  then,  may  we  not  be  favored  by  a  word 
from  you — possibly,  in  all  this  darkness,  a  word  of  encouragement  and 
of  hope  ?  Whether  for  the  public  eye  or  not,  be  assured  it  will  always 
afford  me  sincere  pleasure  to  receive  a  letter  from  you. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully  and  truly, 

"HORATIO  KING. 

"  His  Excellency,  JAMES  BUCHANAN,  Wheatland,  Pa." 


DOCTRINE  OF  COERCION.  141 

"  WHEATLAND,  NEAR  LANCASTER,  April  27, 1865. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR,— Rest  assured  that  I  was  much  gratified  to  receive 
your  favor  of  the  22d.  If  I  was  indebted  a  letter  to  you,  I  am  sorry  for 
it ;  because  I  entertain  no  other  feeling  toward  you  but  that  of  kindness 
and  friendship. 

"  In  common  with  you,  I  feel  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln  to 
be  a  terrible  misfortune  to  our  country.  May  God,  in  his  mercy,  ward 
from  us  the  evils  which  it  portends,  and  bring  good  out  of  this  fearful 
calamity !  My  intercourse  with  our  deceased  President,  both  on  his  visit 
to  me  after  his  arrival  in  Washington  and  on  the  day  of  his  first  inaugu 
ration,  convinced  me  that  he  was  a  man  of  a  kind  and  benevolent  heart, 
and  of  plain,  sincere,  and  frank  manners.  I  have  never  since  changed 
my  opinion  of  his  character.  Indeed,  I  felt  for  him  much  personal 
regard. 

"  Throughout  the  years  of  the  war  I  never  faltered  in  my  conviction 
that  it  would  eventually  terminate  in  the  crushing  of  the  rebellion,  and 
was  ever  opposed  to  the  recognition  of  the  Confederate  government  by 
any  act  which  even  looked  in  that  direction.  Believing,  always,  seces 
sion  to  be  a  palpable  violation  of  the  Constitution,  I  considered  the  acts 
of  secession  to  be  absolutely  void,  and  that  the  States  were  therefore  still 
members,  though  rebellious  members,  of  the  Union. 

"  Having  prayed  night  and  morning  for  the  restoration  of  the  Union, 
the  Constitution,  and  our  civil  liberties,  and  fondly  believing  that  Presi 
dent  Lincoln  was  the  destined  instrument  in  the  hands  of  Divine  Provi 
dence  to  accomplish  these  inestimable  blessings,  the  awful  news  of  his 
diabolical  assassination  at  such  a  moment  overwhelmed  me  with  sorrow. 

"  These  are  my  heartfelt  sentiments  which  you  invite,  but  they  are  not 
for  the  public  eye.  When,  on  the  first  opportunity  after  the  battle  of 
Bull  Run  I  expressed  strong  opinions  to  a  public  meeting  in  support  of 
the  war,  I  was  assailed  as  violently  for  this  ...  as  if  I  had  uttered 
treason.  If  I  were  now  to  write  for  the  public,  which  I  could  do  with 
heartfelt  emotion,  on  the  subject  of  the  assassination,  I  should  be  treated 
in  a  similar  manner. 

"  My  health  is  good,  considering  that  I  was  seventy-four  years  of  age 
on  Sunday  last.  I  lead  a  tranquil  and  retired  life ;  and  should  be  very 
glad  to  welcome  you  once  more  to  Wheatland. 

"  From  your  friend,  very  respectfully, 

"JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

"HON.  HORATIO  KING." 

In  conclusion,  let  me  say  that  I  present  this  communica 
tion  in  no  partisan  spirit,  but  purely  in  the  interest  of  truth 


142  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

and  justice,  without  reference  to  party  politics.  Moreover, 
I  have  no  hesitation  in  declaring  that  I  consider  it  a  duty 
plainly  devolving  upon  me  to  bear  this  testimony,  while 
yet  I  may,  to  the  honesty,  fidelity,  and  patriotism  of  Mr. 
Buchanan.  Seldom  if  ever  absent  from  his  post,  whether 
as  senator,  secretary  of  state,  minister  plenipotentiary,  or 
President  of  the  United  States,  he  was  attentive  to  every 
duty  incumbent  upon  him.  While  President,  if  a  citizen, 
no  matter  how  humble,  appealed  from  any  head  of  a  de 
partment  to  him  for  redress,  he  always  listened  with 
patience,  and,  calling  for  a  full  statement  of  facts  of  the 
case,  investigated  it  thoroughly,  and  gave  his  decision  in 
the  spirit  of  an  upright  judge.  No  one  was  turned  away. 
He  acted  as  the  President  of  the  whole  people,  and  as  feel 
ing  that  he  was  ultimately  to  be  held  responsible  for  every 
official  act  done  under  his  administration.  If  matters  hap 
pened  to  go  wrong,  no  one  regretted  it  more  than  he.  His 
ardent  desire  was  for  everything  to  go  right.  Happy  would 
it  be  for  the  people  of  this  country  could  they  be  assured 
of  always  securing  in  the  higher  posts  of  honor  and  au 
thority,  men  as  able,  conscientious,  and  patriotic  as  was 
James  Buchanan,  late  President  of  the  United  States. 
WASHINGTON,  September,  1870. 


LETTER  ON  THE  WAR.  143 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

LETTER    ON   THE   WAR. 

Its  Progress — The  Hand  of  the  Almighty  now  Apparent — Poison  at  the 
National  Hotel. 

WASHINGTON,  Nov.  13, 1863. 
REV.  G.  M.  P.  KING,  PROVIDENCE,  R.  I. 

DEAR  SIR, — What  you  say  in  regard  to  the  sentiments 
and  conduct  of  some  of  the  people  in  New  England  touch 
ing  the  war  would  have  surprised  me  had  I  not  in  my  visit 
there  last  summer  heard  and  seen  the  same  things.  It 
seemed  to  me  that  many  of  our  friends  there  considered  it 
their  duty,  in  standing  up  for  what  they  called  the  "  rights 
of  the  South,"  to  advocate  the  cause  of  slavery  with  quite 
as  much  earnestness  as  we  of  the  Democratic  party  in  a 
spirit  of  generosity,  when  we  knew  less  about  it  than  at 
present,  felt  constrained  to  do  in  our  political  contests  previ 
ous  to  the  war.  Instead  of  moving  forward  with  the  rest 
of  the  world,  they  appear  to  remain  stationary.  As  an 
instance  of  this  not  a  little  amusing,  I  observed  in  a  Maine 
newspaper,  just  before  the  late  election  in  that  State,  an  ex 
tract  from  a  speech  of  George  F.  Shepley,  Esq.,  now  brig 
adier-general  of  volunteers,  delivered  in  1856,  in  which  he 
took  occasion  to  pay  a  high  compliment  to  John  C.  Breck- 
inridge,  then  a  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidency,  which 
extract  was  quoted  to  show  General  Shepley's  present  in 
consistency  in  giving  his  hearty  support  to  the  measures  of 
the  administration  for  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion  in 
which  this  same  recreant  son  of  Kentucky  is  engaged !  I 
am  pained  to  say  that  I  met  some  who  justified  the  South 
in  taking  up  arms,  and  who  were  bitterly  severe  upon  the 
administration  for  every  shortcoming,  real  or  supposed, 
while  blind  to  the  stupendous  crimes  and  wickedness  which 


144  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

have  characterized  the  boasted  "  chivalry"  of  the  South 
from  the  moment  of  their  embracing  the  hideous  monster, 
Treason,  to  the  present  time.  Averring  that  the  South  was 
fighting  for  republican  independence  as  fought  the  heroes 
of  1776,  they  charged  that  it  was  the  purpose  of  the  ad 
ministration  to  prosecute  the  war  for  the  abolishment  of 
slavery  and  the  subjugation  of  her  people.  They  seemed 
willing  to  ignore,  if  not  actually  to  deny,  the  fact  that, 
instead  of  republican  liberty,  the  leaders  of  the  rebellion 
openly  proclaimed  that  they  were  contending  for  the  estab 
lishment  of  a  government,  than  which  none  could  be 'more 
aristocratic,  and  of  which,  as  declared  by  their  Vice-Presi- 
dent,  A.  H.  Stephens,  slavery  was  the  "  corner-stone."  But 
the  further  we  move  onward  into  the  heart  of  the  South, 
the  clearer  view  do  we  gain,  not  only  of  the  real  character 
of  slavery,  but  of  those  who  seek  to  found  a  government 
upon  it.  You  have  no  doubt  read  a  remarkable  article  on 
this  subject,  which  appeared  in  the  Richmond  Examiner  of 
28th  May  last,  at  a  time  when  the  rebels  were  flushed  with 
success  and  full  of  hope.  The  writer  of  that  article  says, 
"  The  establishment  of  the  Confederacy  is  verily  a  distinct 
reaction  against  the  whole  course  of  the  mistaken  civiliza 
tion  of  the  age.  And  this  is  the  true  reason  why  we  have 
been  left  without  the  sympathy  of  the  nations  till  we  con 
quered  that  sympathy  with  the  sharp  edge  of  the  sword. 
For  liberty,  equality,  fraternity,  we  have  deliberately  sub 
stituted  slavery,  subordination,  and  government.  Those 
social  and  political  problems  which  rack  and  torture  modern 
society,  we  have  undertaken  to  solve  for  ourselves  in  our 
own  way  and  on  our  own  principles."  .  .  .  "  Reverently  we 
feel,"  he  continues,  "  that  our  Confederacy  is  a  God-sent 
missionary  to  the  nations,  with  great  truths  to  preach.  We 
must  speak  them  boldly,  and  whoso  hath  ears  to  hear  let 
him  hear."  Is  it  not  passing  strange,  when  we  behold  the 
South — I  mean  those  who  control  there — acting  up  to  these 
monstrous  doctrines,  that  there  should  be  any  division  of 


LETTER  ON  THE  WAK.  145 

sentiment  in  the  free  States  as  to  the  policy  or  importance 
of  subduing  at  once  and  forever  a  power  promising  or  un 
dertaking  thus  to  subvert  the  principles  of  liberty  through 
out  the  world  ?  In  the  presence  of  such  declarations,  and 
the  better  knowledge  obtained  of  the  institution  of  slavery 
since  the  war  broke  out.  need  we  marvel  that  intelligent 

o 

statesmen  like  Mr.  Bright,  of  the  English  Parliament,  for 
instance,  should  say  of  the  South,  "  Her  object  is  to  retain 
the  power  to  breed  negroes,  to  lash  negroes,  to  chain  them, 
to  buy  and  sell  negroes,  to  deny  them  the  enjoyment  of  the 
commonest  family  ties,  to  break  their  hearts  by  rending 
them  at  their  pleasure,  to  close  their  mental  eye  against  a 
glimpse  of  that  knowledge  which  separates  us  from  the 
brute  creation,  for,  in  accordance  with  their  laws,  it  is  a 
penal  act  to  teach  a  negro  to  read." 

These  are  sweeping  charges,  and  I  do  not  quote  to  en 
dorse  them,  although  one  must  be  very  blind  now  to  doubt 
that  the  South  is  fighting  to  perpetuate  slavery  by  the 
establishment  of  a  government  hostile  to  the  rights  and  in 
denial  of  the  dignity  of  labor.  Nor  is  it  less  apparent, 
judging  from  the  ferocity  and  heartless  barbarity  mani 
fested  by  the  traitors  towards  the  Union  prisoners  in  many 
instances,  and  towards  the  Union  people  of  the  South,  that 
the  effect  of  slavery  upon  them  is  to  the  last  extent  per 
nicious.  Still  they  cling  to  and  fight  for  it. 

But  a  great  change  is  going  on — greater  by  far  in  the 
border  States  and  at  the  South  than  at  the  North — in  re 
gard  to  this  institution.  One  of  the  most  striking  indi 
vidual  instances  of  this  is  to  be  seen  in  the  recent  address 
of  E.  W.  Gantt,  a  member  elect  to  Congress,  in  1860,  from 
Arkansas,  who,  until  within  a  few  months  past,  has  held  a 
commission  in  the  rebel  service.  Of  slavery  he  says,  "  Its 
existence  had  become  incompatible  with  the  existence  of 
the  Government ;  for  while  it  had  stood  as  a  wall  damming 
up  the  current  and  holding  back  the  people  and  laborers 
of  the  North,  it  had,  by  thus  precluding  free  intercourse 

10 


146  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT.    . 

between  the  sections,  produced  a  marked  change  in  their 
manners,  customs,  and  sentiments;  and  the  two  sections 
were  growing  more  divergent  every  day.  This  wall  or  the 
Government — one  must  give  way.  The  shock  came  which 
was  to  settle  the  question.  I  thought  the  Government  was 
divided  and  negro  slavery  established  forever.  I  erred. 
The  Government  was  stronger  than  slavery.  Reunion  is 
certain,  but  not  more  certain  than  the  downfall  of  slavery. 
.  .  .  We  fought  for  negro  slavery.  We  have  lost." 

Look,  too,  at  the  wonderful  strides  towards  general 
emancipation  in  Maryland,  Missouri,  and  several  other 
slave  States ;  nor  let  it  be  forgotten  with  what  general 
satisfaction  immediate  emancipation  has  been  acquiesced  in 
in  this  District.  There  was  at  first,  to  be  sure,  some  hesi 
tancy  and  a  little  grumbling  on  the  part  of  a  few  of  the 
owners,  while  a  smaller  number  declined  to  present  their 
slaves  for  valuation  and  compensation,  on  the  ground,  as  it 
was  understood,  that  they  hoped  and  believed  that  Jefferson 
Davis  would  sooner  or  later  have  permanent  possession 
here  at  the  capital,  and  would,  of  course,  protect  them  in 
their  "  sacred  rights."  But  while  this  latter  number,  which 
was  very  small,  are  no  doubt  vexed  with  themselves  for 
their  latent  treachery,  those  who  took  advantage  of  the 
law  under  a  sort  of  protest  would,  I  doubt  not,  every  one 
of  them  now  heartily  approve  it,  were  the  thing  to  be  gone 
over  again. 

In  view  of  these  among  other  numerous  considerations 
patent  to  every  one  who  reads,  it  is  unaccountable  that  so 
many  of  our  good  people  at  the  North,  as  if  in  a  spirit  of 
magnanimity,  should  esteem  it  either  their  duty  or  good 
policy  to  brace  themselves  so  firmly  in  support  of  this  tot 
tering  institution  of  slavery,  and  especially  that  they  should 
be  so  ready  to  denounce  such  men  as  General  Butler,  Gen 
eral  Shepley,  Daniel  8.  Dickinson,  and  others  for  yielding 
to  their  honest  convictions,  and  with  Joseph  Holt,  Andrew 
Johnson,  Horace  Maynard,  and  hosts  of  other  patriotic 


LETTER  ON  THE  WAR.  147 

Southerners,  saying,  "  God  speed  to  universal  emanci 
pation." 

Do  you  ask  if  I  have  turned  Abolitionist  ?  I  answer  that 
the  political  Abolitionism  of  former  days  differs  widely  from 
the  great  movements  now  in  progress  for  the  freedom  not 
alone  of  the  slaves,  but  of  the  down-trodden,  laboring  white 
population,  too,  of  the  South.  I  am  constrained  to  believe 
with  Mr.  Gantt,  that  "  the  mission  of  slavery  is  accom 
plished."  And  when,  as  he  says,  he  has  "recently  talked 
with  Southern  slaveholders  from  every  State,"  that  u  they 
are  tired  of  slavery,  and  believe  they  could  make  more  clear 
money  and  live  more  peaceably  without  than  with  it," 
why  should  we  of  the  free  States  longer  strive  for  its  main 
tenance  ?  Mr.  Boyce,  of  South  Carolina,  warned  his  friends 
that  if  they  brought  on  a  war  against  their  Government  it 
would  be  the  death  of  their  cherished  institution.  They 
did  commence  the  war ;  let  them  suffer,  as  they  are  doing 
in  many  ways,  its  legitimate  consequences. 

Certainly  we  are  not  called  upon  to  interpose  any  coun 
teracting  obstacle.  Let  the  work  go  on.  Do  we  not  plainly 
see  in  it  the  hand  of  the  Almighty  ?  Heretofore  we  have, 
as  it  were,  waited  for  the  records  of  history  to  be  made  up 
before  being  permitted  to  see  clearly  the  workings  of  Provi 
dence  in  the  affairs  of  men.  As  from  an  eminence  we 
looked  back  into  the  past  to  behold  "  His  wonderful  do 
ings."  But  now  we  seem  to  feel  His  immediate  presence 
and  to  see  His  all  powerful  hand  in  the  great  events  daily 
transpiring  around  us. 

No,  my  friend,  you  well  know  I  am  beyond  the  influence 
of  either  official  position  (for  I  neither  hold  nor  desire  any) 
or  partisan  politics.  Neither  "  Abolitionism,"  "  Republi 
canism,"  nor  "  Democracy,"  in  a  party  sense,  have  I  any 
thing  to  do  with  during  the  war.  My  motto  is,  "  My  coun 
try  first — afterwards,  if  need  be,  my  party."  Let  us  give  to 
the  administration  a  cheerful  support.  Its  responsibilities 
are  immense — how  tremendously  oppressive  we  cannot  fully 


148  TURNING  OX  THE  LIGHT. 

realize  until  the  war  is  ended,  if,  indeed,  we  ever  can.  Let  us 
seek  to  strengthen,  not  to  destroy  it.  If  we  think  errors  are 
committed,  point  them  out  in  a  spirit  of  friendship,  not  of 
carping  bitterness.  Let  us  be  united.  Before  there  can  be 
peace  the  military  power  of  the  rebels  must  be  broken  and 
thoroughly  subdued.  This  can  be  done  only  by  exerting 
our  united  strength  against  them.  They  had  been  long 
preparing  for  this  struggle,  and  had,  no  doubt,  many  times 
surveyed  the  whole  field  ere  entering  upon  it  in  hostile 
array. 

You  have,  no  doubt,  seen  the  letter  of  that  arch-traitor, 
J.  M.  Mason,  to  Jefferson  Davis,  written  in  September, 
1856,  when  the  latter  was  Secretary  of  War,  in  which  Mason 
informs  him,  through  his  "  most  private  ear,"  that  the 
Governors  of  several  of  the  Southern  States  had  agreed  to 
rendezvous  at  Raleigh,  evidently  for  treasonable  purposes,  in 
view  of  the  anticipated  election  of  Fremont  to  the  Presi 
dency,  in  which  event  he  said  he  had  already  given  it  as  his 
judgment,  that  the  South  should  not  pause,  but  proceed  at 
once  to  immediate,  absolute,  and  eternal  separation,  adding, 
— as  he  knew  what  he  deserved, — "  so  I  am  a  candidate  for 
the  first  halter."  The  principal  object  of  the  letter,  how 
ever,  was  to  urge  Davis  to  comply  with  Governor  Wise's 
official  request  "  to  exchange  with  Virginia,  on  fair  terms  of 
difference,  percussion  for  flint  muskets." 

This,  by  the  way,  is  the  same  "  J.  M.  Mason"  who,  when 
the  question  was  to  be  submitted  to  Virginia  whether  or 
not  she  should  secede  from  the  Union,  you  will  recollect, 
had  the  unblushing  effrontery  to  advise  all  who  were  op 
posed  to  secession  to  leave  the  State  !  The  same,  too,  who, 
in  his  place  in  the  United  States  Senate,  in  the  spring  of 
1861,  with  an  air  of  offended  dignity,  expressed  his  indig 
nation  at  the  quartering  of  United  States  troops  in  this  city 
and  the  mounting  of  cannon  on  the  land  side  of  Fortress 
Monroe  !  It  was,  indeed,  a  sore  thing  for  the  conspirators, 
the  arrival  here  of  one  or  more  batteries  of  flying  artillery, 


LETTER  ON  THE  WAR.  149 

and  they  used  their  utmost  power  to  prevent  it.  It  seri 
ously  interfered  with  their  arrangements;  for  there  is 
scarcely  a  doubt  that  their  fixed  purpose  was  to  prevent 
President  Lincoln's  inauguration  and  take  violent  possession 
of  the  Government. 

Again,  looking  farther  back,  it  should  create  no  surprise 
if,  when  the  entire  history  of  this  infamous  conspiracy  finally 
comes  to  the  light,  it  shall  be  found  that  the  poisoning  at 
the  National  Hotel,  where  Mr.  Buchanan  was  stopping  in 
the  spring  of  1857,  prior  to  his  inauguration,  had  for  its 
special  object  quietly  to  put  him  out  of  the  way,  in  order  to 
give  place  to  Vice-President  Breckinridge,  upon  whom  they 
could  rely  to  co-operate  with  them,  through  Floyd,  Cobb, 
and  Thompson,  in  usurping  the  Government  in  the  event 
of  being  defeated,  as  they  were,  at  the  polls.  Such  a  sug 
gestion  then  would  have  shocked  the  public  sense ;  but  after 
what  we  have  since  witnessed, — the  perjuries,  the  thefts,  the 
robberies,  the  cold-blooded  murders,  the  savage  cruelties  of 
this  traitor  horde, — no  act  of  theirs,  however  horrible,  need 
startle  us. 

But  this  is  diverging.  The  signs  of  an  early  suppression 
of  the  rebellion  are  auspicious.  Our  armies  on  land  and 
water  are  bravely  pressing  onward ;  the  rebel  cause  is  fast 
losing  ground  in  Europe,  where  so  much  pains  have  been 
taken  by  Southern  emissaries  to  enlist  the  aristocracy  and 
enemies  of  the  United  States  in  their  behalf;  no  more  pi 
ratical  vessels  will  be  constructed  in  England  or  France  to 
prey  upon  our  commerce;  the  rebels  are  in  a  straitened 
condition  for  the  necessaries  of  life  ;  and  all  that  is  now 
wanted  to  put  an  end  to  further  bloodshed,  is  for  the  people 
of  the  loyal  States  at  home  to  reinforce  and  support  our 
armies  in  the  field,  in  the  same  spirit  of  union  and  patriot 
ism  with  which  they  rallied  in  defence  of  our  flag  when  it 
was  first  assailed  at  Fort  Sumter.  This  will  ensure  certain 
success  and  end  the  war.  Then  the  seceded  States  will 
return  to  their  positions  under  the  Constitution ;  slavery,  if 


150  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

not  already  abolished,  will  have  been  destroyed  as  a  political 
power  and  be  in  a  condition  speedily  to  be  annihilated  by 
the  mighty  current  of  emancipation  sweeping  southwardly 
from  the  border  slave  States ;  fraternity  and  brotherly  love 
will  resume  their  sway  ;  we  shall,  I  trust,  all  feel  humbled 
and  yet  exalted  by  our  trials,  and  ready  devoutly  to  exclaim, 
"Let  the  heavens  be  glad  and  let  the  earth  rejoice :  and  let 
men  say  among  the  nations,  THE  LORD  REIGNETH." 

Very  truly  yours, 

HORATIO  KING. 

NOTE. — In  reference  to  the  above,  I  am  quite  sure  I  shall 
not  only  be  excused,  but  that  I  shall  receive  the  thanks  of 
every  loyal  reader,  for  giving  place  here  to  the  following 
letter,  showing,  as  it  does,  the  hearty  approbation  of  one  of 
the  ablest,  most  eloquent,  and  patriotic  of  American  states 
men: 

WASHINGTON,  December  12,  1863. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  return  your  letter,  which  I  have  read 
with  great  gratification.  It  is  fully  up  to  the  measure  of 
loyalty  and  statesmanship  demanded  by  the  stern  emergen 
cies  of  the  times,  and  cannot  fail  to  meet  with  a  grateful  and 
appreciative  reception  from  all  true  men.  As  a  page  in  the 
volume  of  your  patriotic  life,  I  am  sure  that  in  the  years  to 
come  you  will  look  back  upon  it  with  unalloyed  pleasure. 

Sincerely  yours, 

J.  HOLT. 

HON.  HORATIO  KING. 


PRESIDENT  BUCHANAN'S  RECORD.  151 

CHAPTER    XIY. 

PRESIDENT  BUCHANAN'S  RECORD. 

A  critic   of  the  Atlantic  Monthly  criticised — General  Dix's  famous  de 
spatch — Opinions  of  Judge  Black  and  General  Holt. 

IF  the  spiteful,  and  what  I  cannot  help  characterizing  as 
a  juvenile,  criticism  of  Mr.  Curtis's  "  Life  of  Buchanan"  in 
the  November  number  of  the  Atlantic  Monthly  shall  have 
the  effect  to  induce  the  readers  of  that  magazine  to  peruse 
his  work  for  themselves,  the  labor  of  the  critic  may  not  fail 
entirely  of  good  effect,  for  no  one  can  read  that  work  atten 
tively  without  being  convinced  of  the  honesty  of  purpose, 
great  ability,  and  wisdom  of  President  Buchanan. 

Not  to  enter  into  any  lengthy  discussion,  let  us  quote 
a  few  of  the  critic's  statements,  with  running  remarks. 
Speaking  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  failure  to  receive  the  nomina 
tion  for  President  in  1852,  the  writer  says : 

"The  rejected  candidate  resigned  himself  to  his  disappointment  and 
was  consoled  by  the  mission  to  England." 

The  evidence  presented  by  Mr.  Curtis  clearly  shows  that 
Mr.  Buchanan  consented  reluctantly  to  accept  the  appoint 
ment  to  England,  and  finally  agreed  to  take  it  only  on  con 
dition  that  the  u  seat  of  negotiations,"  especially  including 
"  the  Central  American  questions,"  should  be  at  London 
instead  of  Washington.  Again,  says  the  critic : 

"  There  is  something  very  pitiable,  something  almost  tragic,  in  the  fig 
ure  of  James  Buchanan  during  those  last  months  of  his  administration. 
.  .  .  On  Mr.  Curtis's  own  showing — presumably  the  best  that  can  be 
made — Buchanan  failed  miserably  at  the  great  crisis  in  the  nation's  life. 
He  took  the  ground  that  he  would  not  precipitate  war  by  applying  force 
to  prevent  a  State  from  seceding,  but  that  he  would  defend  the  flag  and 
property  of  the  United  States." 


152  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

The  writer  ought  to  know,  what  every  school-boy  knows 
who  has  studied  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  that 
the  President  would  have  violated  that  instrument  and 
broken  his  oath  of  office  had  he  attempted  of  himself  to 
"  precipitate  war  by  applying  force  to  prevent  a  State  from 
seceding."  Moreover,  his  great  aim  and  most  anxious  de 
sire  was  to  avoid  an  open  rupture,  and  this  policy  of  for 
bearance  was  also  pursued  by  President  Lincoln  until  all 
hope  of  a  peaceful  settlement  had  -to  be  abandoned.  Says 
Mr.  Gideon  Welles,  Mr.  Lincoln's  Secretary  of  the  Navy : 

"  At  the  time  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  inauguration,  and  for  several  weeks 
thereafter,  he  and  others  indulged  in  the  hope  of  a  peaceful  solution  of 
the  pending  questions,  and  a  desire,  amounting  almost  to  a  belief,  that 
Virginia  and  other  border  States  might,  by  forbearance  and  a  calm  and 
conciliatory  policy,  continue  faithful  to  the  Union.  .  .  .  And  to  con 
ciliate  the  people  of  Virginia  and  the  convention  then  in  session,  the 
President  desired  that  there  should  be  no  step  taken  which  would  give 
offence." 

In  his  message  to  Congress  of  the  4th  of  July,  1861, 
President  Lincoln  himself  said  : 

"  The  policy  chosen  looked  to  the  exhaustion  of  all  peaceable  measures 
before  a  resort  to  any  stronger  ones.  It  sought  to  hold  the  public  places 
and  property  not  already  wrested  from  the  Government,  and  to  collect 
the  revenue,  relying  for  the  rest  on  time,  discussion,  and  the  ballot-box. 
It  promised  a  continuance  of  the  mails  at  Government  expense  to  the 
very  people  who  were  resisting  the  Government,  and  it  gave  repeated 
pledges  against  any  disturbance  to  any  of  the  people  or  any  of  'heir 
rights.  Of  all  that  a  president  might  constitutionally  and  justifiably  do 
in  such  a  case,  everything  was  forborne  witnout  which  it  was  possible  to 
keep  the  Government  on  foot." 

The  Atlantic  censor  continues  : 

"  General  Dix  sent  his  famous  order  ['  If  any  one  attempts  to  haul 
down  the  American  flag,  shoot  him  on  the  spot'],  and  says  he  did  not 
show  it  to  the  President,  because  he  knew  the  latter  would  not  have 
allowed  it  to  go  forth.  In  other  words,  the  President  of  the  United 
States  would  have  refused  to  order  an  officer  of  the  Government  to  defend 
the  national  flag.  It  seems  hardly  worth  while  to  write  a  volume  in 


PRESIDENT  BUCHANAN'S  RECORD.  153 

defence  of  a  man  who  was  in  such  a  state  of  cowardly  panic  as  that.  Mr. , 
Curtis  says  that  Buchanan  had  no  troops,  and  that  Congress  would  not! 
do  anything  to  help  him.  He  had  enough  troops  to  have  fought  on  the 
instant,  and  at  the  first  moment  the  flag  was  touched  or  a  public  building' 
seized.  The  moment  a  move  was  made  by  the  South  he  should  have 
struck  hard,  and,  whether  defeated  or  victorious,  the  next  breeze  that 
swept  from  the  North  would  have  brought  to  his  ear  the  clash  of  resound 
ing  arms.  Congress  did  nothing  for  him  for  the  obvious  reason  that  they 
did  not  trust  him.  They  knew  that  he  was  timid  and  time-serving,  and 
they  then  thought  him  a  traitor.  Many  people  in  the  North  could  not 
believe  that  the  South  would  really  secede,  and  the  leaders  who  saw 
what  was  coming  were  simply  playing  for  time,  and  waiting  until  they 
could  get  a  president  in  whom  they  could  confide.  The  fact  was  that 
Mr.  Buchanan  was  a  very  weak  man,  who  had  been  a  tool  of  stronger 
forces  all  his  life." 

Now,  in  answer  to  all  this  tirade  let  me  say,  first,  that  I 
have  no  doubt  General  Dix  was  correct  in  the  belief  that 
President  Buchanan  would  have  objected  to  the  sending  of  |i 
his  famous  order,  although,  knowing  that  I  fully  sympa 
thized  with  him  as  regards  the  adoption  of  the  most  ener 
getic  measures  in  support  of  the  Union,  he  told  me  of  it 
the  evening  he  sent  it.  I  am  free  to  say,  too,  that  it  met 
my  hearty  approbation.  But,  after  all,  showing  the  true 
grit,  as  it  certainly  did,  may  there  not  be  some  doubt  of  its 
wisdom  ?  Not  only  was  no  attempt  whatever  made  to  carry 
it  into  effect,  but  I  have  it  from  Mr.  "William  Hemphill 
Jones  himself,  to  whom  the  order  was  sent,  that  he  was 
obliged  to  steal  out  of  New  Orleans  to  save  his  own  neck. 

Let  me  conclude  with  the  handsome  tribute  which  Gen 
eral  Holt,  in  his  pamphlet  already  cited,  pays  to  his  old 
chief,  under  date  of  October  8,  1883. 

"  I  cannot  close  this  communication  without  bearing  emphatic  testi 
mony  to  the  loyalty  of  President  Buchanan  throughout  the  troubled  and 
trying  scenes  which  marked  the  last  months  of  his  administration.  .  With 
measureless  responsibilities  oppressing  him,  badgered  by  traitors  and  by  j 
the  department  of  the  Government  which  owed  him  sympathy  and  a  1 
loyal  support,  and  standing,  as  he  did,  on  the  brink  of  a  great  national  l 
calamity,  the  imminence  of  which  was  awing  all  hearts,  he  was  often 


154  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

cast  down,  but  never  unfaithful  to  his  duties.  Amid  the  blinding  rancor 
of  party  strife  he  was  constantly  misunderstood  and  constantly  misrep 
resented.  He  was  not  an  aggressive  man,  nor  at  all  given  to  violent 
forms  of  speech  or  of  action.  He  shrunk  from  the  contemplation  of  civil 
war  and  the  bloodshed  it  would  involve,  and  sought  to  postpone  it  to  the 
last  possible  moment.  But  in  all  this  there  was  no  taint  of  disloyalty. 
While,  however,  uniformly  gentle  and  suave  in  his  modes,  he  was  not 
the  less  firm  in  view  of  the  ends  to  be  finally  attained.  And  yet  it  was 
this  very  gentleness  and  suavity — the  result  in  part,  perhaps,  of  his  pecu 
liar  temperament,  but  yet  more,  it  may  be,  of  the  training  inseparable 
from  his  diplomatic  career — which  often  misled  men  who  paused  not  to 
reflect  that  iron  hands  are  sometimes  found  in  silken  gloves." 
WASHINGTON,  October  27, 1883. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

GENESIS    OF   THE    CIVIL   WAR. 

Fall  of  Fort  Sumter — Acts  of  the  Government  and  Major  Anderson 
Preceding  the  Fall — Defence  of  Buchanan's  Administration — Presi 
dent  Lincoln's  Forbearance. 

AFTER  all  that  has  been  written  on  the  subject  of  Fort 
Sumter,  the  failure  to  send  reinforcements  to  Major  Ander 
son,  in  command  of  the  forts  in  Charleston  harbor,  and  the 
charges  brought  against  President  Buchanan's  .administra 
tion  on  that  account,  it  seems  almost  superfluous  to  attempt 
any  further  answer  to  such  charges.  ~No  one  who  will  read 
Mr.  Buchanan's  own  account  of  the  matter,  as  related  in  his 
book,  entitled  "  Mr.  Buchanan's  Administration  on  the  Eve 
of  the  Rebellion"  (1866),  followed  in  1883  by  Curtis's  clear 
exposition  in  his  "  Life  of  James  Buchanan,"  need  require 
more  evidence  to  convince  him  that  what  was  done,  or  left 
undone,  in  respect  to  reinforcements  or  supplies  to  those 
forts,  affords  no  good  ground  of  complaint  against  President 
Buchanan.  Unfortunately,  however,  those  books  are  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  general  public ;  hence  it  is  no  uncommon 


GENESIS  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  155 

thing  to  hear  him  severely  censured  because  of  his  failure 
to  order  reinforcements  sent  and  of  the  unfounded  charge 
that  he  entered  into  an  "  agreement"  or  "  understanding" 
with  the  South  Carolinian  authorities  to  withhold  reinforce 
ments  so  long  as  no  attacks  should  be  made  on  the  forts. 

One  among  the  latest  arraignments  of  President  Bu 
chanan,  mainly  on  this  subject,  comes  from  Samuel  Wylie 
Crawford,  "brevet  major-general,  U.  S.  A.,  A.M.,  M.D., 
LL.D.,"  in  his  work,  entitled  "  The  Genesis  of  the  Civil 
War."  Although  the  above  titles  appear  after  the  name- of 
the  author  on  the  title-page,  we  learn  from  him,  in  the  last 
chapter  of  his  book,  that  he  was  assistant  surgeon  on  the 
medical  staff  of  Major  Anderson,  and  that  it  was  not  until 
the  return  of  the  command  from  Fort  Sumter  to  New  York 
that  he  was  appointed  major  in  the  Thirteenth  United  States 
Infantry,  from  which  position,  by  gallant  and  meritorious 
services  in  various  battles,  he  rose  to  his  present  rank.  His 
book  of  469  octavo  pages  relates  almo'st  exclusively  to  the 
action  of  the  South  Carolina  authorities,  of  the  Govern 
ment  at  Washington,  and  of  Major  Anderson,  touching 
Fort  Sumter  and  the  other  forts  and  United  States  arsenal 
at  Charleston.  Whoever  shall  read  this  book  will,  I  think, 
be  surprised  at  two  things  at  least :  the  first  is,  that  he  has 
given  such  prominence  to  the  acts  and  sayings  of  leading 
secessionists,  notably  the*"  narrative  of  William  II.  Tres- 
cot,"  who  was  assistant  Secretary  of  State  under  Buchanan, 
serving,  according  to  his  own  statement,  until  the  17th  of 
December,  three  days  only  before  the  passage  of  the  seces 
sion  ordinance  of  South  Carolina.  For  weeks  before  sever 
ing  his  official  connection  with  the  Department  of  State  he 
had,  according  to  his  own  admission  and  from  letters  now 
published,  been  acting  as  confidential  agent  of  "  the  leaders 
of  the  (secession)  movement  in  his  own  State,"  and  imme 
diately  thereafter  "  he  became  the  agent  of  his  State  at 
Washington  until  his  return  to  South  Carolina  in  February, 
1861,"  when  "he  made  a  record  of  his  impressions  of  the 


156  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

events  which  have  been  the  subject  of  so  much  controversy, 
and  the  truth  about  which  is  of  essential  importance  to  the 
future  history  of  the  country.  A  record  thus  made  [Gen 
eral  Crawford  continues]  may  well  be  considered  a  valuable 
contribution  to  the  materials  of  that  future  history.  It  is 
from  this  manuscript  the  writer  has  drawn  largely,  and 
oftentimes  the  clear  and  vigorous  narrative  has  been  inserted 
in  the  terse  and  graphic  words  of  the  author  himself." 

Surely  General  Crawford  is  to  be  congratulated  on  being 
able  to  bring  to  his  aid  so  astute  and  valuable  an  assistant, 
whose  name,  from  the  amount  of  matter  furnished  by  him, 
might  not  have  been  out  of  place  on  the  title-page  of  this  re 
markable  "  Genesis  of  the  Civil  War."  In  a  matter  relating 
to  secession  and  the  rebellion,  such  a  witness  in  the  case 
of  a  gallant  Union  officer  and  historian  striving  to  convict 
the  President  of  the  United  States  of  a  dereliction  of  duty 
appears,  in  his  estimation,  to  have  been  considered  more 
credible  and  of  much  greater  weight  than  any  testimony  of 
the  President  himself,  or  that  of  any  member  of  his  Cabinet. 
The  latter  is  not  less  explicit  and  abundant  than  the  former, 
and  was  ready  at  hand. 

By  way  of  parenthesis,  I  may  remark  that  the  private 
secretaries  to  President  Lincoln,  in  their  one-sided,  partisan 
"  history,"  have  resorted  to  this  same  "  narrative"  of  Mr. 
Trescot,  as  well  as  to  the  testimony  of  other  distinguished 
secessionists,  with  a  view  to  present  President  Buchanan  in 
an  unfavorable  light,  if  not  actually  as  a  traitor,  before  the 
country.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  whether  or  not 
this  sort  of  aid  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Trescot  to  the  Republican 
cause  was  the  inspiring  motive  which  led  Mr.  Blaine,  when 
Secretary  of  State,  to  select  him  for  one  or  more  important 
diplomatic  appointments. 

One  other  thing  that  must  strike  the  reader  of  General 
Crawford's  work  is  the  conflicting  estimates  which  he,  un 
wittingly  perhaps,  places  on  the  character,  if  not  the  motives, 
of  President  Buchanan. 


GENESIS  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  157 

After  narrating  what  lie  holds  the  President  had  done  or 

O 

left  undone  in  regard  to  South  Carolina,  he  goes  on  to  say : 

"The  failure  On  the  part  of  the  President  to  reinforce  the  Southern  i 
forts,  or  any  of  them,  .  .  .  had  produced  its  legitimate  result.  .  .  .  Had  I 
such  relief  been  promptly  sent  .  .  .  the  situation  might  have  been  far  dif-^ 
ferent.  ...  It  is  true  that  the  organized  force  legitimately  under  his  com-  ( 
mand,  as  reported  by  Lieutenant-General  Scott,  was  small ;  but  it  was  at 
the  time  at  least  sufficient  to  show  the  purpose  of  the  Government  and  to 
hold  Fort  Sumter  until  Congress  could  come  to  the  rescue  of  the  country. 
But  the  President  did  nothing.     His  fear  that  by  his  own  act  he  might 
inaugurate  hostilities  and  so  bring  on  civil  war,  sustained  by  his  political 
convictions  that  the  Union  could  not  be  preserved  by  a  war  between  the 
States,  his  overwhelming  desire  for  peace,  and  his  hope  to  keep  the  border  I 
States,  amounted  to  a  timidity  which  '  wholly  incapacitated  him  for  f 
action.'  .  .  .  When  history  shall  come  to  pen  the  record  of  the  close  of 
his  career  it  will  judge  him  not  from  what  he  did,  but  what,  from  his  great 
opportunities  and  grave  responsibilities,  he  utterly  failed  to  do." 

Now,  before  turning  back  to  his  previous  record,  let  it  be 
observed  that  General  Crawford  gives  the  sentiment  he 
quotes  against  President  Buchanan — "Wholly  incapacitated 
him  for  action" — as  his  own  ;  but  he  does  not  tell  us  from 
whom  the  language  came.  We  might  infer  from  his  intro 
duction  that  it  was  from  his  principal  witness,  although 
Martin  J.  Crawford,  one  of  the  Confederate  commissioners 
from  Montgomery,  is  credited  by  the  author  with  having 
employed  similar  language  in  speaking  of  the  President. 
Mr.  Crawford  had  resigned  his  seat  as  a  member  of  Con 
gress  from  Georgia,  and,  coming  on  the  3d  of  March  fresh 
from  the  new-fledged  Confederate  Government,  he  probably 
flattered  himself  that  he  might  induce  the  President  to  take 
some  action  by  which  they  could  avail  themselves  to  their 
advantage  in  their  proceedings  with  the  incoming  adminis 
tration.  Finding,  as  he  wrote  home,  that  he  had  become 
"  fully  satisfied  that  it  would  not  be  wise  to  approach  Mr. 
Buchanan  with  any  hope  of  his  doing  anything  which  would 
result  advantageously  to  our  [Confederate]  Government,"  in 
his  chagrin,  he  added  that  he  found  him  "  wholly  disquali- 


158  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

fied  for  his  present  position/'  Therefore,  "  he  would  not 
attempt  to  open  negotiation  with  the  outgoing  adminis 
tration." 

Our  author  is  entitled  to  as  much  of  the  testimony  of  his 
peculiarly  qualified  witnesses  from  the  Confederate  side  as  I 
can  possibly  find  room  for. 

But  to  return.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected  on  the  6th  of 
November,  prior  to  which  time  it  was  generally  supposed, 
certainly  by  all  Union  men,  that  his  election  would  be  acqui 
esced  in,  North  and  South.  It  was  not  until  the  threaten 
ing  attitude  of  South  Carolina  and  rumblings  of  disunion 

O  O 

on  the  part  of  secessionists  in  other  Southern  States  and  in 
Washington  that  much,  if  anything,  was  said  on  the  im 
portance  of  strengthening  either  our  military  or  naval  de 
fences.  "  Meantime  [says  General  Crawford]  the  Govern 
ment  at  Washington  was  not  indifferent  to  the  movements 
in  South  Carolina,"  where,  "  as  soon  as  the  result  of  the  elec 
tion  was  known,  the  Governor  called  for  the  services  of  the 
Washington  Light  Infantry,  and  stationed  them  as  a  guard 
over  the  United  States  arsenal,  in  the  city  of  Charleston,  on 
the  12th  of  November."  An  inventor}^  afterward  taken, 
placed  the  value  of  this  property  at  $400,000,  all  of  which 
was  seized  and  appropriated  to  the  use  of  the  State. 

At  this  period  Secretary  Floyd,  while  holding  to  the  right 
of  secession,  professed  opposition  to  its  exercise,  but  believed 
it  injudicious  to  attempt  to  reinforce  the  Southern  forts, 
while  General  Cass  and  Judge  Black  (Trescot  states)  were 
in  favor  of  it,  and  the  President  also  "  then  informed  him 
that  he  had  determined  to  reinforce  the  garrison  in  Charles 
ton  harbor,  upon  which  a  very  animated  discussion  arose." 
Floyd  said  "  that  he  would  cut  off  his  right  hand  before  he 
would  sign  an  order  to  send  reinforcements  to  the  Carolina 
forts.  Thompson,  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  agreed  with 
him  perfectly ;"  and  "  the  President  consented  to  suspend 
his  decision  until  General  Scott  could  reach  Washington." 
It  was  now  proposed  that  Mr.  Trescot  call  on  the  President 


GENESIS  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAK.  159 

and  announce  his  determination  to  resign,  and  proceed  at 
once  to  Columbia  "  to  lay  the  facts  before  the  executive  of 
South  Carolina"  should  the  determination  to  reinforce  be 
insisted  on.  "  I  would  be  in  Columbia,  he  said,  in  thirty- 
six  hours,  and  upon  such  information  there  could  be  no 
earthly  doubt  that  the  forts  would  be  occupied  in  the 
following  twenty-four,"  before  reinforcements  could  reach 
them.  Merely  the  sending  of  ordinary  supplies  to  Fort 
Moultrie,  he  "  believed,  would  lead  to  the  occupation  of 
Fort  Sumter  in  forty-eight  hours." 

Under  date  of  November  15,  1860,  "  a  special  order  was 
issued  by  command  of  Lieutenant-General  Scott,  directing 
Major  Robert  Anderson,  First  Artillery,  to  proceed  to  Fort 
Moultrie  and  immediately  relieve  Brevet-Colonel  John  L. 
Gardiner,  lieutenant-colonel  First  Artillery,  in  command 
thereof."  Colonel  Gardiner,  it  appears,  had,  on  the  7th  of 
November,  sent  to  the  arsenal  at  Charleston — "  a  matter  of 
ordinary  routine" — for  a  quantity  of  military  stores,  and  "  to 
avoid  observatipn,  it  was  thought  advisable  to  put  the  sol 
diers  detailed  for  the  duty  in  citizens'  dress."  Nevertheless, 
"the  movements  of  the  men  were  watched — information 
was  sent  at  once  to  Charleston,"  whose  authorities  prevented 
the  execution  of  the  order.  That  effort  of  Colonel  Gardiner, 
General  Crawford  says,  "  cost  him  his  position,"  but  there 
is  nothing  to  show  that  even  General  Scott,  through  whom 
the  order  for  his  removal  was  made,  was  advised  of  its  im 
pelling  motive  ;  and  it  is  not  at  all  probable  that  the  President 
was  consulted  or  knew  anything  about  it.  Mr.  Trescot  was 
in  the  secret.  The  adjutant-general,  S.  Cooper,  was  in  the 
interest  of  the  secessionists,  and  afterwards  filled  the  same 
position  under  Jefferson  Davis,  while  Floyd,  although  still 
claiming  to  be  a  Union  man,  "  on  his  arrival  at  Richmond 
[our  author  states]  announced  '  that  he  had,  while  Secretary 
of  War,  supplied  the  South  with  arms  in  anticipation  of  the 
approaching  rebellion' — a  confession  that  he  had  proved 
treacherous  to  his  former  high  official  trust.  He  succeeded. 


100  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

He  was  taken  into  favor  and  was  subsequently  appointed  to 
the  rank  of  brigadier-general  in  the  Confederate  army." 

We  may  add  here  that  on  the  20th  of  December,  without 
the  knowledge  or  consent  of  the  President,  he  ordered  to 
the  forts  at  Ship  Island  and  at  Galveston — "  in  no  condition 
to  receive  their  armaments !" — one  hundred  and  thirteen 
columbiads  and  eleven  32-pounders.  Fortunately,  the 
order  was  revoked  by  his  successor,  Joseph  Holt,  before 
the  guns  could  be  shipped. 

On  his  appointment,  "  Major  Anderson  proceeded  at  once 
to  his  post,  and,  on  the  23d  of  November,  recommended 
that  Fort  Sumter — the  key  of  entrance  to  the  harbor — 
should  be  garrisoned  at  once."  This  was  as  quickly  com 
municated  to  the  South  Carolina  authorities,  for  the  city 
was  full  of  secession  spies,  always  on  the  alert,  and  there 
was  no  possibility  of  any  movement  being  made  by  the 
Government  for  protection  against  treason  without  its 
being  immediately  known  at  Charleston.  Colonel  R.  B, 
Rhett,  Jr.,  a  prominent  and  influential  citizen  of  South 
Carolina,  urged  upon  the  Governor  "  that  a  large  steamer 
of  the  Boston  line  should  be  chartered,  five  hundred  rifle 
men  put  on  board,  and  the  ship  anchored  abreast  of  the 
fort  [Sumter]  commanding  the  entrance  of  the  inner  har 
bor." 

Instead  of  going  to  the  President,  as  at  first  proposed, 
with  a  notice  of  his  determination  to  resign  and  hasten 
to  Columbia,  should  the  President  determine  to  reinforce 
the  garrison  at  Charleston,  it  was  decided  that  he  should 
write  to  Governor  Gist — "  tell  him  that  the  President  was 
under  very  strong  apprehensions  that  the  people  of  Charles 
ton  would  seize  the  forts ;  that  in  consequence  he  felt  bound 
to  send  reinforcements;  that  the  Southern  members  of 
the  Cabinet  would  resist  this  policy  to  resignation,  but  they 
thought  that  if  he  felt  authorized  to  write  a  letter  assuring 
the  President  that  if  no  reinforcements  were  sent,  there 
would  be  no  attempt  upon  the  forts  before  the  meeting  of 


GENESIS  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  161 

the  convention,"  etc.  On  the  29th  of  November,  in  a  letter 
marked  "  strictly  confidential,"  he  proceeds  to  execute  this 
trust,  assuring  the  Governor  that  he  wished  him  "  distinctly 
to  understand  that  there  is  no  possibility  of  such  an  order 
being  issued  without  the  dissolution  of  the  Cabinet  and 
your  receiving  ample  notice."  This,  observe,  was  from  the 
Assistant  Secretary  of  State.  The  Governor  answered  Mr. 
Trescot  November  29 :  "I  have  found  great  difficulty  in 
restraining  the  people  of  Charleston  from  seizing  the  forts, 
and  have  only  been  able  to  restrain  them  by  the  assurance 
that  no  additional  troops  would  be  sent  to  the  forts,  or  any 
munitions  of  war."  In  a  letter  marked  "  confidential,"  of 
same  date,  Governor  Gist  wrote  to  Mr.  Trescot  to  "  ask  if 
you  [he]  have  any  objections,  in  the  event  of  your  con 
nection  with  the  Federal  Government  ceasing,  to  remain 
in  Washington  and  act  as  confidential  agent  for  this  de 
partment."  He  takes  occasion  also  to  remark :  "  If  there 
is  any  inquiry  as  to  the  course  South  Carolina  will  pursue, 
you  may  safely  say  that  she  will  not  permit  any  increase 
of  troops  or  munitions  of  war  in  the  forts  or  arsenals,  and, 
considering  it  an  evidence  of  intention  to  coerce  and  an 
act  of  war,  she  will  use  force  to  prevent  it,  and  a  collision 
must  inevitably  ensue." 

General  Cass's  letter  of  resignation  was  handed  to  the 
President  on  the  15th  of  December,  "the  President  [as 
Mr.  Buchanan  himself  states  in  his  book,  page  167]  having 
determined  not  to  disturb  the  status  quo  at  Charleston  as 
long  as  our  troops  should  continue  to  be  hospitably  treated 
by  the  inhabitants,  and  remain  in  unmolested  possession 
of  the  forts."  "Meantime  [says  General  Crawford]  a 
despatch  had  arrived  from  Major  Anderson  stating  that 
he  felt  secure  in  his  position.  This,  in  connection  with 
the  influence  exercised  by  the  Southern  members  of  the 
Cabinet,  induced  the  President  to  change  his  purpose, 
and  reinforcements  were  not  sent."  Major  Anderson 
had  been  informed  by  the  adjutant-general  that  it  wras 

11 


162  TUENING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

"  believed,  from  information  thought  to  be  reliable,  that 

an  attack  will  not  be  made  on  your  command 

The  increase  of  the  force  under  your  command,  however 
much  to  be  desired,  would,  the  Secretary  thinks,  judging 
from  recent  excitement  produced  on  account  of  an  antici 
pated  increase,  as  mentioned  in  your  letter,  but  add  to  the 
excitement,  and  might  lead  to  serious  results." 

On  the  9th  of  December,  John  McQueen,  William 
Porcher  Miles,  M.  L.  Bonham,  W.  W.  Boyce,  and  Law 
rence  M.  Keitt,  members  of  Congress  from  South  Caro 
lina,  after  a  conference  with  the  President  by  four  of 
them,  deprecating  any  attempt  at  reinforcements,  ad 
dressed  a  letter  to  him  expressing  their  "  strong  con 
victions"  that  the  forts  would  not  be  either  attacked  or 
molested  "  previous  to  the  act  of  the  convention,  and  we 
hope  and  believe,  not  until  an  offer  has  been  made  through 
an  accredited  representative  to  negotiate  for  an  amicable 
arrangement  of  all  matters  between  the  State  and  the 
Federal  Government;  provided  that  no  reinforcements 
shall  be  sent  into  these  forts,  and  their  relative  military 
status  shall  remain  as  at  present."  The  President  objected 
to  the  word  "provided"  in  their  statement,  "lest,  if  he 
should  accept  it  without  remark,  it  might  possibly  be  con 
strued  into  an  agreement  on  his  part  not  to  reinforce  the 
forts.  Such  an  agreement,  he  informed  them,  he  would 
never  make."  Still  he  had  no  present  design,  under  the 
circumstances,  to  change  the  condition  of  those  forts.  In 
their  report  of  this  interview  to  the  convention,  Messrs. 
Miles  and  Keitt  said  that  the  President  promised,  in  the 
event  of  his  changing  his  policy  for  any  reason,  he  would 
return  the  paper  to  them — that  "the  impression  made 
upon  the  delegation  was  that  the  President  was  wavering, 
and  had  not  wholly  decided  as  to  what  course  he  would 
pursue."  They  do  not  pretend  or  even  intimate  that  there 
was  any  pledge  on  either  side. 

Provision  had  been  made  "  for  the  reinforcement  of  the 


GENESIS  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR  163 

forts  in  case  of  need,"  when,  on  the  llth  of  December,  the 
following  instructions  were  conveyed  to  Major  Anderson 
by  Assistant  Adjutant-General  D.  C.  Buell,  who  was  de 
spatched  to  Fort  Moultrie  for  that  purpose  by  the  Secretary 
of  war, — viz.  : 

"  You  are  carefully  to  avoid  every  act  which  would  needlessly  tend  to  , 
provoke  aggression,  and  for  that  reason  you  are  not,  without  evident  and ' 
imminent  necessity,  to  take  up  any  position  which  could  be  construed 
into  the  assumption  of  a  hostile  attitude ;  but  you  are  to  hold  possession 
of  the  forts  in  this  harbor,  and,  if  attacked,  you  are  to  defend  yourself 
to  the  last  extremity.  The  smallness  of  your  force  will  not  permit  you, 
perhaps,  to  occupy  more  than  one  of  the  three  forts,  but  an  attack  on  or 
attempt  to  take  possession  of  either  of  them  will  be  regarded  as  an  act  of 
hostility,  and  you  may  then  put  your  command  into  either  of  them  which 
you  may  deem  most  proper  to  increase  its  power  of  resistance.  You  are 
also  authorized  to  take  similar  steps  whenever  you  have  tangible  evidence 
of  a  design  to  proceed  to  hostile  acts." 

When  a  copy  of  this  order  was  laid  before  the  President 
he  gave  directions  for  its  modification  as  regards  the  in 
struction  "  to  defend  himself  to  the  last  extremity,"  Major 
Anderson  being  advised  that  "  it  was  sufficient  for  him  to 
defend  himself  until  no  reasonable  hope  should  remain  of 
saving  the  fort." 

About  the  17th  of  December  Captain  Foster  took  from 
the  arsenal  forty  muskets  and  placed  them  in  the  magazines 
at  Fort  Sumter  and  Castle  Pinckney.  "  The  act,"  says 
General  Crawford,  "  occasioned  an  excitement  that  ought 
to  have  been  foreseen."  The  military  storekeeper  informed 
Captain  Foster  of  this,  "  and  assured  him  that  some  violent 
demonstration  was  certain  unless  the  excitement  could  be 
allayed,"  and  he  asked  the  immediate  return  of  the  mus 
kets.  Captain  Foster  declined,  but  was  willing  to  refer  the 
matter  to  Washington.  Mr.  Trescot's  services  were  now 
called  into  requisition  by  a  telegram  asking  him  "  to  have 
the  arms  instantly  returned,  or  a  collision  may  occur  at  any 
moment."  The  result  was  an  order  from  the  Secretary  of 
War  directing  Captain  Foster  to  return  the  arms  instantly, 


164  TUENING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

which  was  done ;  and  J.  J.  Pettigrew,  aide-de-camp,  tele 
graphed  back  to  Trescot,  "  The  Governor  says  he  was  glad 
of  your  despatch  [conveying  the  order],  for  otherwise  there 
would  have  been  imminent  danger.  Earnestly  urge  that 
there  be  no  transfer  of  troops  from  Fort  Moultrie  to  Fort 
Sumter,  and  inform  the  Secretary  of  War." 

General  Crawford  states  that  "  the  sending  of  Major 
Buell  and  the  object  of  his  mission  were  known  in  Wash 
ington,  and  on  the  13th  of  December  the  principal  news 
paper  of  Charleston  published  from  its  correspondent  in 
Washington  the  following  despatch  : 

"  Major  Buell  and  several  other  officers  of  the  army  have  been  sent  to 
Fort  Moultrie  to  look  after  the  forts.  Keep  a  sharp  lookout  upon  them. 
They  were  sent  for  no  good  to  us.  See  that  they  make  no  change  in  the 
distribution  of  soldiers  so  as  to  put  them  all  in  Fort  Sumter ;  that  would 
be  dangerous  to  us." 

Meantime,  the  difficulties  of  Anderson's  position  at  Fort 
Moultrie  increased  daily. 

The  President  had  now  definitely  determined  upon  a 
policy  (says  our  author)  which  he  maintained  until  the  last. 

At  midnight  on  the  18th  of  December  (General  Crawford 
states)  Governor  Pickens  (Governor  Gist's  successor)  sent 
for  Captain  Charles  H.  Simpson,  who,  with  his  Washington 
Light  Infantry,  had  been  guarding  the  arsenal  to  prevent 
the  removal  of  ammunition  or  stores  to  the  forts,  and 
ordered  him,  "  with  such  men  from  his  company  as  he 
could  rely  upon,  to  cruise  between  the  two  forts"  of  Moul 
trie  and  Sumter,  to  prevent  the  evacuation  of  the  former 
and  taking  possession  of  the  latter.  He  said  that  he  had 
heard  of  such  intention,  and  that  it  must  be  prevented  "  at 
all  hazards."  He  was  to  hail  every  boat  passing  between 
the  forts.  If  he  found  that  any  were  boats  with  United 
States  troops  on  board,  he  was  to  prevent  their  passage,  and, 
should  the  officers  persist,  he  was  to  sink  their  boats  and 
then  immediately  take  Fort  Sumter. 


GENESIS  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  165 

In  a  letter  to  Governor  Pickens,  dated  December  18,  Pres 
ident  Buchanan  informed  him  of  sending  Caleb  Gushing 
to  hold  communication  with  him  in  his  own  behalf.  He 
"  assumes  the  fact  that  the  State  of  South  Carolina  is  now 
deliberating  on  the  question  of  seceding  from  the  Union,^ 
and  he  considers  it  his  duty  to  exert  all  the  means  in  his  j 
power  to  avert  so  dread  a  catastrophe."  Governor  Pickens 
said  to  Mr.  Gushing  that  he  would  return  no  reply  to 
the  President's  letter,  except  to  say,  "  very  candidly,  that 
there  was  no  hope  for  the  Union,  and  that,  as  far  as  he 
was  concerned,  he  intended  to  maintain  the  separate  inde 
pendence  of  South  Carolina,  and  from  this  purpose  neither 
temptation  nor  danger  should  for  a  moment  deter  him." 
The  ordinance  of  secession  having  passed  on  the  20th  of 
December,  a  committee  of  both  houses  of  the  legislature 
invited  Mr.  Gushing  to  be  present  on  the  evening  of  that 
day,  when  the  ordinance  was  to  be  signed.  It  is  hardly 
necessary  to  say  that  he  declined  the  invitation  and  returned 
at  once  to  Washington. 

On  the  evening  of  December  26,  Major  Anderson  ad 
dressed  a  short  letter  to  Adjutant-General  Cooper,  saying : 
"  I  have  the  honor  to  report  that  I  have  just  completed,  by 
the  blessing  of  God,  the  removal  to  this  fort  [Sumter]  of 
all  my  garrison,  except  the  surgeon,  four  non-commissioned 
officers,  and  seven  men.  .  .  .  The  step  which  I  have  taken 
was,  in  my  opinion,  necessary  to  prevent  the  effusion  of 
blood." 

General  Crawford  states  that  orders  had  been  given  to 
Captain  Foster,  who  was  left  in  charge  of  Fort  Moultrie, 
"  that  if  there  should  be  any  attempt  to  interfere  with  the 
passage  of  the  boats  upon  the  part  of  the  guard-boat,  he  was 
to  fire  upon  her."  Fortunately,  the  guard-boat  did  not  make 
her  appearance  until  just  after  the  transference,  and  "  the 
night  passed  without  incident." 

Meantime  three  commissioners — Robert  "W.  Barnwell, 
James  H.  Adams,  and  James  L.  Orr — were  appointed  from 


166  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

South  Carolina  "  to  treat  with  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,"  and  they  arrived  in  Washington  on  the  day 
of  Major  Anderson's  removal  to  Fort  Sumter.  Before  they 
were  ready  to  present  their  credentials  to  the  President,  the 
news  of  that  unexpected  movement  was,  on  the  morning  of 
the  27th  of  December,  brought  to  him  by  Senators  Hunter, 
of  Virginia,  and  Davis,  of  Mississippi,  Mr.  Trescot  also 
accompanying  them.  Here  is  Mr.  Trescot's  account  of  the 
interview,  as  quoted  by  our  author  : 

" '  Have  you  received  any  intelligence  from  Charleston  in  the  last  few 
hours  ?'  asked  Colonel  Davis.  '  None/  said  the  President.  '  Then,'  said 
Colonel  Davis,  '  I  have  a  great  calamity  to  announce  to  you.'  He  then 
stated  the  facts,  and  added,  '  And  now,  Mr.  President,  you  are  surrounded 
with  blood  and  dishonor  on  all  sides.'  The  President  exclaimed,  '  My 
God,  are  calamities  (or  misfortunes,  I  forget  which)  never  to  come  singly ! 
I  call  God  to  witness,  you  gentlemen,  better  than  anybody,  know  that  this 
is  not  only  without,  but  against  my  orders.  It  is  against  my  policy.'  " 

The  Cabinet  was  immediately  called  together,  when,  as 
our  author  states,  at  the  suggestion  of  Judge  Black,  the 
order  conveyed  to  Major  Anderson  by  Major  Buell  on  the 
llth  of  December,  which  order  "  seemed  to  be  ignored  or 
forgotten,"  was  sent  for,  and  its  import  brought  into  special 
notice.  Until  now,  General  Crawford  observes,  the  Presi 
dent  had  "possibly  regarded  it  as  a  matter  of  routine 
only." 

The  South  Carolina  commissioners  had  their  first  and  only 
interview  with  the  President  on  the  28th  of  December.  "  He 
received  them  courteously  and  as  private  gentlemen  alone. 
He  listened  [continues  General  Crawford]  to  their  statement, 
but  informed  them  that  it  was  to  Congress  they  must  look, 
at  the  same  time  expressing  his  willingness  to  lay  before 
Congress  any  i  propositions'  they  might  make  to  him."  Mr. 
Barn  well  acted  as  the  chairman,  and  "  brought  to  the  atten 
tion  of  the  President  the  arrangement  which  had  been  made 
early  in  December  between  him  and  the  South  Carolina  dele 
gation  ;  that  it  had  been  observed  in  good  faith  by  the  people 


GENESIS  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  167 

of  South  Carolina,  who  could  at  any  time,  after  the  arrange 
ment  was  made,  up  to  the  night  when  Major  Anderson 
removed  to  Sumter,  have  occupied  Fort  Sumter  and  cap 
tured  Moultrie  with  all  its  command ;  that  the  removal  of 
Anderson  violated  that  agreement  on  the  part  of  the  Gov-tf 
ernment  of  the  United  States,  and  that  the  faith  of  the! 
President  and  the  Government  had  been  thereby  forfeited."! 
They  persistently  demanded  that  Major  Anderson  should  be1 
at  once  ordered  back  to  Fort  Moultrie.  General  Crawford 
furnishes  this  further  account  of  the  interview  from  a  letter 
of  Mr.  Orr,  one  of  the  commissioners  present,  written  to 
him  September  21,  1871,  over  ten  years  after  the  interior 
took  place. 

"  The  President  made  various  excuses  why  he  should  be  allowed  time 
to  decide  the  question.  .  .  .  Mr.  Buchanan  still  hesitating,  Mr.  Barnwell 
said  to  him,  at  least  three  times  during  the  interview,  '  But,  Mr.  Presi 
dent,  your  personal  honor  is  involved  in  this  matter  ;  the  faith  you  pledged 
has  been  violated,  and  your  personal  honor  requires  you  to  issue  the 
order.'  Mr.  Barnwell  pressed  him  so  hard  on  this  point  that  the  Presi 
dent  said,  '  You  must  give  me  time  to  consider — this  is  a  grave  question.' 
Mr.  Barnwell  replied  to  him  for  the  third  time,  '  But,  Mr.  President,  your 
personal  honor  is  involved  in  this  arrangement.'  Whereupon  Mr.  Bu 
chanan,  with  great  earnestness,  said,  '  Mr.  Barnwell,  you  are  pressing  me 
too  importunately ;  you  don't  give  me  time  to  consider.'  .  .  .  The  inter 
view  terminated  without  eliciting  an  order  from  the  President  to  restore 
the  status  of  the  troops  in  Charleston  harbor." 

We  will  let  General  Crawford  speak  again  : 

"  Whatever  agreement  or  understanding  may  have  been  entered  into 
between  the  Government  at  Washington  and  those  who  acted  for  the  State 
of  South  Carolina  in  regard  to  the  existing  status  in  the  harbor  of  Charles 
ton,  it  is  evident  that  Major  Anderson  had  not  been  informed  of  it. 
When  he  heard  almost  daily  that  his  position  in  Fort  Moultrie  would  be 
attacked,  and  saw  the  nightly  watch  upon  him  lest  he  should  transfer  his 
command  to  the  stronger  and  safer  position  of  Fort  Sumter, — it  was  the 
latter  action,  wholly  in  violation  of  any  agreement  that  might  have  been 
made,  that  impressed  him  beyond  all  others  and  mainly  influenced  his 
actions, — and  he  resolved  to  take  advantage  of  the  '  tangible  evidence' 
and  remove  his  command." 


168  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

In  his  letter  of  December  27  to  the  War  Department, 
Major  Anderson  says :  "  I  will  add  that  many  things  con 
vinced  me  that  the  authorities  of  the  State  designed  to  pro 
ceed  to  a  hostile  act." 

In  their  letter  to  the  President  the  South  Carolina  com 
missioners  renewed  their  demand  that  Major  Anderson 
should  be  ordered  to  remove  his  command  back  to  Fort 
Moultrie,  and  insisted  that  "  the  removal  to  Fort  Sumter 
was  made  in  violation  of  the  pledges  given  by  the  Presi 
dent."  On  this  point,  while  the  President  freely  expressed 
his  surprise  and  regret  at  the  removal,  as  likely  to  operate 
injuriously  against  his  policy  for  the  preservation  of  the 
peace,  he  positively  denied  the  existence  of  any  pledge,  on 
his  part,  tying  his  hands.  "  As  to  the  alleged  pledge"  (he 
himself  says)  u  we  have  already  shown  that  no  such  thing 
existed."  Nevertheless,  strange  to  say,  our  Union  general 
(Crawford)  seems  to  take  the  opposite  side  of  this  question, 
and  introduces  his  secession  witnesses  in  support  of  it.  Says 
he: 

"  Anderson's  action,  while  not  inconsistent  with  the  position  of  his 
message  nor  the  official  action  of  his  Cabinet,  was  wholly  in  violation  of 
the  policy  that  the  President  had  pursued.  For  a  time  the  President  was 
undetermined  as  to  what  course  to  take,  but  he  had  eventually  prepared 
a  draft  of  an  answer  to  the  South  Carolina  commissioners  which  yielded 
the  point  at  issue,  when,  by  the  firm  and  decided  action  of  his  Secretary 
of  State,  the  consequence  of  such  action  upon  his  part  was  presented  in 
so  clear  a  light  as  to  induce  him  to  change  his  purpose."  Says  Trescot : 
"  For  a  moment  he  wavered.  But  he  could  take  no  other  course.  .  .  . 
His  Secretary  of  State  and  his  Attorney-General  said  to  him,  '  Decide  ; 
whatever  you  may  have  done,  we  are  uncommitted.  Keep  the  word  which 
the  South  says  you  have  pledged,  and  we  resign.'  " 

Right  at  this  point  I  beg  to  introduce  as  a  witness  one 
whose  testimony  ought  to  have  nearly,  if  not  quite,  as  much 
weight  as  any  presented  in  "  Trescot's  Narrative" — no  less 
a  witness  than  Judge  Black  himself.  He  was  writing  upon 
his  "  memorandum"  touching  the  paper  above  referred  to, 
which  the  President  had  hastily  drawn  up  in  reply  to  the 


GENESIS  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  169 

commissioners  of  South  Carolina.  He  had  remarked  that 
had  the  President  refused  to  adopt  his  views,  equally  ap 
proved  by  Messrs.  Holt  and  Stan  ton,  as  expressed  in  his 
(Judge  Black's)  "  memorandum"  thereon,  both  he  and  Stan- 
ton  "  would  have  resigned.  Mr.  Holt"  (he  adds)  "  perhaps 
would  have  done  the  same,  but  he  did  not  say  so.  There 
never  was  any  talk,  or  suggestion,  or  threat,  absolute  or  con 
ditional,  of  resignation  by  any  Northern  member  of  the 
administration  than  what  is  here  stated." 

It  does  not  appear  on  whose  authority  General  Crawford 
makes  the  following  statement,  but  presumably  on  that  of 
his  assistant  editor.  He  writes  : 

"  In  regard  to  any  '  understanding'  or  '  agreement/  the  President  had 
acknowledged  it,  and  claimed  that  he  was  affected  by  it  personally.  '  You 
do  not  seem  to  appreciate,  Judge  Black/  said  he,  '  that  my  personal  honor 
as  a  gentleman  is  involved.'  '  Such  an  understanding/  said  Judge  Black, 
'  is  impossible.  You  could  not  make  it,  or  any  agreement  with  any  onel 
that  would  tie  your  hands  in  the  execution  of  the  laws,  and  if  you  did  \ 
make  it  you  must  retire  from  it.'  Finally  the  President  yielded  his  objec 
tions  and  committed  the  paper  which  he  had  submitted  to  his  Cabinet 
into  the  hands  of  his  Secretary  of  State." 

It  would  appear  from  this  that  the  supposition  or  allega 
tion  that  the  President  acknowledged  he  had  bound  him 
self  by  an  "  understanding"  or  "  agreement,"  as  charged, 
is  based  on  something  he  may  have  written  in  that  paper, 
which  he  placed  in  "  the  hands  of  his  Secretary  of  State." 
It  is  certain  that  General  Crawford  did  not  receive  from 
either  Judge  Black,  Mr.  Stanton,  or  Mr.  Holt  any  such  ad 
mission,  however  he  may  have  tried  to  obtain  it  from  the 
former,  as  indicated  by  the  following  marginal  note,  saying  : 

"  On  the  22d  of  March,  1882,  I  had  a  long  and  earnest  conversation 
with  Judge  Black  upon  the  subject  of  the  interview  between  the  Presi 
dent  and  the  congressional  delegation  of  South  Carolina,  as  to  the  under 
standing  or  arrangement  agreed  upon  at  that  interview.  The  details  of 
his  interview  with  the  President  when  the  commissioners  of  South  Caro 
lina  were  in  Washington  were  stated,  when,  at  the  end,  I  said, '  Well,  then, 


170  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

.    Vv 

Judge  Black,  there  appears  to  be  but  one  conclusion  to  be  reached — the 
j  President  did  make  that  agreement.'  The  judge  rose,  and,  looking  steadily 
I  at  me  for  a  moment,  said,  *  Kemember,  that  is  your  conclusion.'  " 

Mr.  Trescot,  in  his  "  Narrative,"  represents  Attorney- 
General  Stanton  as  saying  to  him  (Trescot),  "You  say  the 
President  has  pledged  himself.  I  do  not  know  it.  I  have 
not  heard  his  account,  but  I  know  you  believe  it." 

Referring  to  this  subject,  Mr.  Blaine,  in  his  political  his 
tory,  makes  the  charge  that  "  Mr.  Buchanan  prepared  an 
answer  to  their  (the  South  Carolina  commissioners')  request, 
which  was  compromising  to  the  honor  of  the  executive  and 
perilous  to  the  integrity  of  the  Union."  Mr.  J.  Buchanan 
Henry,  the  President's  nephew  and  private  secretary,  called 
General  Holt's  attention  to  and  asked  his  opinion  particu 
larly  on  that  statement.  In  his  answer,  May  26, 1884,  Gen 
eral  Holt  goes  into  a  lengthy  and  unanswerable  vindication 
of  Mr.  Buchanan,  which  paper  will  form  an  important 
chapter  in  the  history  of  his  administration.  I  will  give 
place  only  to  this  paragraph,  which  of  itself  is  a  sufficient 
answer  to  Mr.  Elaine's  false  and  ill-judged  charge.  Says 
General  Holt,  "  While  unable,  at  this  late  day,  to  recall  all 
the  details  of  the  answer  to  the  commissioners  drafted  by 
the  President,  my  recollection  is  distinct  that  it  contained 
nothing,  properly  understood, — that  is,  as  the  President 
himself  understood  it  and  wished  it  to  be  understood  by 
others, — which  could  be  held  to  be  '  compromising  to  the 
honor  of  the  executive  and  perilous  to  the  integrity  of  the 
Union.'  Mr.  Buchanan  had  so  guarded  his  personal  honor 
through  a  long  life  that,  at  its  close,  there  was  found  upon 
it  neither  stain  nor  trace  of  stain;  with  equal  solicitude, 
and,  in  my  belief,  with  equal  success,  did  he  watch  over 
the  honor  of  the  great  office  he  held." 

The  publication  of  the  "  Memorandum,"  or  "  Judge 
Black's  Protest,"  as  he  styled  it  when  he  first  promul 
gated  it  through  the  Lancaster  (Pa.)  Intelligencer  of  July 
7,  1874,  has  no  doubt  given  rise  to  very  erroneous  as  well 


GENESIS  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  171 

as  unjust  criticisms  upon  Mr.  Buchanan,  and  it  is  due  to 
the  memory  of  Judge  Black  to  express  the  charitable 
belief  that  had  he  known  that  the  well-intentioned  paper 
against  which  he  so  excitedly  entered  his  "protest"  was 
no  longer  in  existence,  he  never  would  have  given  his 
comments  to  the  press.  Speaking  of  it,  General  Holt,  in 
his  letter  just  mentioned,  says,  "  The  judge  did  nothing  by 
halves,  and  in  the  fervor  of  his  loyalty  to  the  Union  he 
commented  on  what  had  been  evolved  in  the  Cabinet,  but 
much  more  elaborating  and  intensifying  his  strictures  by  the 
vigor  of  speech  for  which  he  was  so  distinguished." 

Suffice  it  to  say,  in  the  language  of  General  Holt,  "  the 
President  unhesitatingly  directed  that  an  answer  should  be 
prepared  in  accordance  with  the  changes  desired,  and  this 
was  accordingly  done."  The  letter,  so  perfected,  was  sent 
to  the  commissioners,  whose  reply  was  so  insulting  that 
it  was  instantly  returned,  with  this  indorsement :  u  This 
paper,  just  presented  to  the  President,  is  of  such  a  nature 
that  he  declines  to  receive  it."  Commenting  on  this  mat 
ter,  Judge  Black  remarks :  "  Mr.  Buchanan  had  always 
felt  in  full  the  deep  responsibility  which  rested  upon  him. 
He  was  anxious  to  avoid  a  collision  which  would  prevent 
accommodation,  hurry  the  border  States  out  of  the  Union, 
and  precipitate  a  civil  war,  for  which  the  Government  was 
totally  unprepared.  But  he  had  never  for  a  moment  wil 
lingly  contemplated  the  surrender  of  the  forts  at  Charles 
ton.  On  the  contrary,  he  had  uniformly  declared,  before 
the  election  and  after,  that  if  those  forts  should  be  given  up 
he  would  *  rather  die  than  live.' ' 

After  all  was  over,  Mr.  Buchanan  himself,  in  writing  in 
the  third  person  on  this  subject,  said,  "  The  President  be 
lieved  it  to  be  impossible  to  garrison  the  numerous  forts  of 
the  United  States  in  time  of  peace ;  that  to  attempt  this 
would  have  been  a  confession  of  weakness,  as  the  force  at 
his  command  was  absurdly  inadequate  to  the  object  in  view, 
and  that  it  would  have  provoked  instead  of  preventing  col- 


172  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

lision.  He  therefore  considered  it  his  duty  to  refrain  from 
any  act  which  might  provoke  or  encourage  the  Cotton 
States  into  secession,  and  to  smooth  the  way  for  congres 
sional  compromise." 

Major  Anderson  was  now,  as  he  believed,  firmly  in 
trenched  in  Fort  Sumter,  and  delegation  after  delegation, 
sent  by  Governor  Pickens,  demanding  his  surrender  or 
return  to  Fort  Moultrie  was  courteously  dismissed  with  the 
undeniable  statement  that  he  "  had  removed  his  command 
from  Fort  Moultrie  to  Fort  Sumter,  as  he  had  a  right  to  do, 
being  in  command  of  all  the  forts  in  the  harbor."  He  said 
he  had  not  been  informed  of  any  "  understanding"  which 
the  Governor  claimed  he  had  violated, — that  his  position 
was  threatened  every  night  by  the  troops  of  the  State, — and 
that  he  was  apprehensive  of  a  landing  on  the  island.  "  To 
prevent  this,"  said  he,  earnestly,  "  I  removed  on  my  own 
responsibility,  my  sole  object  being  to  prevent  bloodshed." 
He  said  at  the  same  time,  "  In  this  controversy  between  the 
North  and  the  South,  my  sympathies  are  entirely  with  the 
South." 

Says  General  Crawford,  "  Anderson  now  felt  strong  in 
his  position,  and  he  frequently  remarked  to  the  writer  that 
he  controlled  the  situation.  His  whole  effort  was  to  effect, 
as  far  as  it  lay  in  his  power,  a  peaceful  solution  of  the  diffi 
culties."  "  He  had  reported  the  progress  of  batteries  in 
construction  around  him,  but  as  late  as  the  30th  of  January 
he  had  urged  with  emphasis  that  he  hoped  that  no  attempt 
would  be  made  by  friends  to  throw  supplies  in,  and  that 
their  doing  so  would  do  more  harm  than  good."  "  Two 
days  after  his  entrance  into  the  work  he  had  informed  his 
Government  that,  God  willing,  he  would  in  a  few  days  be  so 
strong  that  the  South  Carolinians  would  hardly  be  foolish 
enough  to  attack  [me]  him.  He  thought  that  the  city  was 
entirely  in  his  power ;  that  he  could  cut  off  its  communi 
cations  by  sea  and  close  its  harbor  by  destroying  its  light 
houses,  and  he  believed  in  his  ability  to  do  it."  On  the 


GENESIS  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  173 

31st  of  December  he  wrote  to  the  War  Department,  saying, 
"  Thank  God,  we  are  now  where  the  Government  may  send 
us  additional  troops  at  its  leisure."  The  Government  having 
decided  to  sustain  Major  Anderson  in  his  present  position, 
Secretary  Floyd  made  it  a  pretext  to  offer  his  resignation, 
which  was  instantly  accepted,  as  the  President,  through  Vice- 
President  Breckinridge,  had  requested  it  some  days  before. 

Now  came  the  firing  upon  the  Star  of  the  West,  on  the 
9th  of  January,  1861,  the  circumstances  of  which  are  too 
well  known  to  require  repetition  here.  In  a  letter  to 
Governor  Pickens,  demanding  to  know  if  the  firing  was 
by  his  order,  Major  Anderson  characterized  it  as  an  act 
"  without  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  our  country  or  of 
any  other  civilized  government,"  that  "  if  not  disclaimed, 
he  must  regard  it  as  an  act  of  war,"  and  after  a  reasonable 
time  for  the  return  of  his  messenger,  he  should  not  permit 
any  vessel  to  pass  within  the  range  of  his  guns.  As  Mr. 
Buchanan  remarks,  "  Had  he  adhered  to  his  purpose,  the 
civil  war  would  then  have  commenced."  Governor  Pickens 
replied  to  Major  Anderson,  saying,  "  The  act  is  perfectly 
justified  by  me."  Major  Anderson  concluded  to  despatch 
Lieutenant  Talbot  to  Washington  and  await  instructions. 

"  On  the  llth  of  January,  the  same  day  [General  Craw 
ford  says]  upon  which  the  hulks  of  four  vessels  were  sunk 
across  the  channel  at  the  entrance  of  the  harbor,"  Governor 
Pickens  made  another  demand  for  the  surrender  of  Sumter, 
having  previously  seized  all  the  other  forts,  as  well  as  the 
United  States  arsenal  at  Charleston,  with  its  nearly  half  a 
million  of  stores.  The  result  was  the  despatching  of  Lieu 
tenant  Hall  to  Washington  with  instructions  from  Major 
Anderson,  and  the  Governor  appointed  Issac  W.  Hayne,  his 
attorney-general,  to  accompany  him.  Meantime  the  State 
authorities  continued  their  active  work  on  the  fortifications. 
I  need  not  give  the  particulars  of  Mr.  Hayne's  mission ; 
they  are  of  public  record,  and  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that 
the  Governor's  proposition  to  "  buy  Fort  Sumter  and  con- 


174  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

tents  as  property  of  the  United  States,  sustained  by  a  decla 
ration  in  effect  that  if  she  is  not  permitted  to  make  the  pur 
chase  she  will  seize  the  fort  by  force  of  arms,"  was,  of 
course,  declined  as  wholly  inadmissible,  the  ground  of  this 
decision  being  clearly  and  ably  stated  in  the  letter  of  Feb 
ruary  6,  1861,  from  the  Secretary  of  War  (Holt)  to  Mr. 
Hayne.  Mr.  Holt  closes  his  letter  with  the  following 
solemn  warning :  "  If,  with  all  the  multiplied  proofs  which 
exist  of  the  President's  anxiety  for  peace,  and  of  the  ear 
nestness  with  which  he  has  pursued  it,  the  authorities  of 
that  State  (South  Carolina)  shall  assault  Fort  Sumter,  and 
peril  the  lives  of  the  handful  of  brave  and  loyal  men  shut 
up  within  its  walls,  and  thus  plunge  our  common  country 
into  the  horrors  of  civil  war,  then  upon  them  and  those 
they  represent  must  rest  the  responsibility." 

As  early  as  the  31st  of  December  provision  had  been 
matured  for  the  sending  of  reinforcements  to  the  forts  in 
Charleston  harbor  by  the  war  ship  Brooklyn,  but  it  was 
deemed  advisable  to  substitute  the  Star  of  the  West  for  that 
vessel — we  have  seen  with  what  result.  This  did  not  deter 
the  Government  from  making  other  preparations  for  the 
relief  of  Fort  Sumter,  but  the  plan  for  such  relief,  for 
various  reasons,  was  not  carried  into  effect. 

On  the  16th  of  February,  Major  Anderson  wrote  to  the 
War  Department  asking  what  course  it  would  be  proper  for 
him  to  take  if,  without  a  declaration  of  war  or  a  notice  of 
hostilities,  he  should  see  the  floating  battery  of  the  South 
Carolina  authorities  approaching  his  fort,  seeing  they  might 
"  attempt  placing  it  within  good  distance  before  a  declara 
tion  of  hostile  intentions."  I  was  present  when  this  ques 
tion  was  presented  in  Cabinet.  The  President,  still  anxious 
to  avoid  firing  the  first  gun,  wished  time  to  consider.  The 
Secretary  of  War  asked  him  what  he  would  do,  or,  rather, 
what  Major  Anderson  ought  to  do,  in  case  he  were  in 
charge  of  a  fort  and  the  enemy  should  commence  under 
mining  it.  The  President  promptly  answered  that  he 


GENESIS  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  175 

"  should  crack  away  at  them."  This,  according  to  my 
memorandum  made  at  the  time,  was  on  the  19th  of  Feb 
ruary.  On  the  23d  of  that  month,  replying  to  Major  An 
derson,  Mr.  Holt  repeated  his  instructions  of  the  10th  of 
January,  which  were  "  to  act  strictly  on  the  defensive,  and 
to  avoid,  by  all  means  compatible  with  the  safety  of  your 
command,  a  collision  with  the  hostile  forces  by  which  you 
are  surrounded,"  and  added,  "  The  policy  thus  indicated 
must  govern  your  conduct.  The  President  is  not  disposed 
at  the  present  moment  to  change  the  instructions  under 
which  you  have  been  heretofore  acting,  or  to  occupy  any 
other  than  a  defensive  position.  If,  however,  you  are  con 
vinced  by  sufficient  evidence  that  the  raft  of  which  you 
speak  is  advancing  for  the  purpose  of  making  an  assault 
upon  the  fort,  then  you  would  be  justified  on  the  principle 
of  self-defence  in  not  awaiting  its  actual  arrival  there,  but 
by  repelling  force  by  force  on  its  approach." 

The  length  of  my  article  reminds  me  that  I  should 
bring  it  to  a  close  by  the  mention  of  only  a  few  things 
more  relating  to  President  Buchanan's  administration,  with 
a  brief  allusion  to  the  beginning  of  the  administration  of 
Mr.  Lincoln. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  at  the  moment  when  the  thirty- 
sixth  Congress  and  Mr.  Buchanan's  administration  w^ere 
about  to  expire,  the  Secretary  of  War  laid  before  the 
Cabinet  a  letter  that  morning  received  from  Major  Ander 
son,  which,  as  Mr.  Buchanan  correctly  states,  "  was  read  by 
Mr.  Holt,  greatly  to  his  own  surprise  and  that  of  every 
other  member  of  the  Cabinet.  In  this  the  major  declares 
that  he  would  not  be  willing  to  risk  his  reputation  on  an 
attempt  to  throw  reinforcements  into  Charleston  harbor 
with  a  force  of  less  than  twenty  thousand  good  and  well- 
disciplined  men."  On  the  evening  of  the  4th,  Mr.  Bu 
chanan,  whose  term  as  President  had  expired  at  12  M., 
called  the  members  of  his  Cabinet  together  at  the  office 
of  District- Attorney  Ould,  over  Corcoran  andRiggs's  Bank, 


176  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

when,  after  full  consultation,  it  was  agreed  that  Mr.  Holt 
should  prepare  a  letter  to  President  Lincoln,  giving  a  detailed 
account  of  what  had  been  done  touching  Major  Anderson's 
occupation  of  Fort  Sumter,  and  send  it  to  him  with  Major 
Anderson's  letter  and  accompanying  papers  as  early  as 
possible  on  the  next  day. 

At  noon  on  the  5th  another  meeting  was  held,  as  per 
agreement,  at  the  War  Department,  Mr.  Buchanan  and  all 
the  members  of  his  Cabinet  except  Judge  Black  being 
present,  when  Mr.  Holt's  letter,  which  he  had  prepared, 
was  read,  discussed,  and,  with  slight  alterations,  unani 
mously  approved.  This  letter  forms  an  important  chapter 
in  the  history  of  President  Buchanan's  administration. 

Now,  with  two  or  three  more  quotations  from  our  author 
(not  Trescot,  but  Crawford),  and  a  forcible  expression  of 
Judge  Black,  I  pass  to  a  brief  mention  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
policy  of  treating  the  great  question  of  the  day. 

General  Crawford  states  truthfully  and  manfully  tha/t  "  it 
was  not  denied  that  the  President  was  powerless.  No  one 
claimed  that  he  could,  by  virtue  of  his  office,  make  war,  or 
that,  without  additional  and  special  legislation,  he  could 
properly  or  efficiently  act ;  and  yet  the  Congress  of  1860- 
61  simply  and  persistently  refused  to  pass  any  act  or  adopt 
any  resolution  either  to  preserve  the  Union  by  peaceful 
measures  or  to  grant  to  the  executive  the  power  of  ag 
gression,  or  to  increase  and  define  his  power  of  defence." 
"  And  yet  Mr.  Buchanan  desired  and  strove  to  serve  his 
country.  He  had  asked  Congress  for  those  powers  neces 
sary  to  meet  the  unprecedented  condition  of  things,  but 
whose  exercise  without  the  action  of  Congress  he  deemed 
impossible.  To  all  of  his  appeals  for  such  powers  Con 
gress  treated  him  with  indifference,  if  not  with  contempt." 
"  Upon  one  point  he  was  inflexible,  and  from  it  he  never 
wavered,  and  that  was  his  determination  never,  under  any 
pressure  of  circumstances,  to  surrender  the  forts  at  Charles 
ton,  and  to  this  resolve  he  adhered  to  the  last." 


GENESIS  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  177 

Shortly  before  his  death,  in  August,  1883,  Judge  Black, 
writing  in  answer  to  a  letter  of  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis,  said, 
"  The  demand  for  the  evacuation  of  Fort  Sumter  and  the 
surrender  into  the  hands  of  South  Carolina  was,  take  it  all 
in  all,  the  most  impudent  in  the  history  of  the  world/' 

President  Lincoln  had  no  sooner  taken  his  seat  than  he 
was  beset  with  the  same  difficulties  which  had  caused  his 
predecessor  so  much  concern  and  trouble.  The  Montgomery 
commissioners,  with  Associate  Justice  James  A.  Campbell, 
of  Alabama,  who  shortly  afterwards  resigned  his  seat  on 
the  Supreme  Bench,  and  many  other  pronounced  seces 
sionists,  were  on  hand,  all  demanding  the  evacuation  of 
Fort  Sumter.  Justice  Campbell,  who  had  used  his  influence 
with  President  Buchanan  in  trying  in  vain  to  get  him  to 
disavow  the  act  of  Major  Anderson  in  removing  his  com 
mand  to  Fort  Sumter,  sought  still,  also  "  by  his  personal 
influence  with  the  new  administration,  to  bring  about  a 
peaceful  solution  of  the  difficulties,"  and  the  first  step 
towards  that  most  desirable  end  was,  they  insisted,  the 
relinquishment  of  Fort  Sumter  into  the  possession  of  the 
Montgomery  government. 

"  A  warlike  construction  [says  General  Crawford]  of  the 
inaugural  of  Mr.  Lincoln  was  placed  upon  it  by  the  South 
ern  element  at  Washington."  On  the  6th  of  March,  General 
Beauregard  assumed  command  of  the  troops  at  Charleston. 
"  Friends  at  Washington  kept  him  fully  informed  of  any 
possible  movement.  On  the  same  day  Commissioner  Craw 
ford  reported  to  his  government  that  '  the  selections  made 
of  the  advisers  of  the  President  would  prove  beneficial  to 
the  Confederate  States,'  and  that  it  was  the  determined 
purpose  of  the  Secretaries  of  State  and  War  (Seward  and 
Cameron)  to  accept  and  maintain  a  peace  policy."  He 
deemed  it  advisable  to  support  Mr.  Seward's  policy  of 
peace,  because  he  felt  confident  it  would  tend  to  "  cement 
the  Confederacy  and  put  it  beyond  the  reach  of  either  his 
arms  or  his  diplomacy."  "  On  the  llth  of  March,  Senator 

12 


178  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

Wigfall  informed  the  Confederate  general  by  telegraph 
that  it  was  believed  that  '  Anderson  will  be  ordered  to 
evacuate  Sumter  in  five  days,  and  that  this  was  certainly 
informally  agreed  upon  in  Cabinet  Saturday  night.' " 
General  Beauregard  thereupon  wrote  Major  Anderson  that 
he  had  been  informed  that  Mr.  Lamon,  the  authorized  agent 
of  the  President,  had,  after  seeing  Major  Anderson,  informed 
Governor  Pickens  that  the  command  was  to  be  transferred 
in  a  few  days  to  another  post.  He  added  that  "  all  that 
would  be  required  of  him  would  be  his  word  of  honor  as 
an  officer  and  gentleman  that  the  fort,  with  its  armament 
and  all  public  property,  should  remain  without  any  arrange 
ments  for  its  destruction;  that  company  and  side  arms 
might  be  taken,  and  the  flag  saluted." 

Major  Anderson  replied  that  "if  he  could  leave  this  fort 
only  upon  such  a  pledge  he  would  never,  '  so  help  him  God, 
leave  this  fort  alive.' ' 

There  were  fears  that  the  fort  would  be  undermined,  and 
the  New  York  Commercial  Advertiser  said,  "  If  Sumter  must 
be  abandoned,  let  it  be  a  shapeless  mass  of  ruins." 

Commissioner  Crawford  professed  great  impatience  at 
the  delay,  as  did  also  the  authorities  at  Charleston.  Said 
the  former,  "  The  evacuation  of  Sumter  is  imperative." 
Still,  Judge  Campbell  advised  patience.  On  the  15th  of 
March  he  drew  up  the  following  memorandum,  which  "  re 
ceived  the  approval  of  Mr.  Justice  Nelson,"  who,  with  him, 
was  striving  for  peace,  "  and  its  contents  having  been  com 
municated  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  was  handed  to  the 
commissioner,  who  at  once  advised  the  authorities  at  Mont 
gomery." 

"  I  feel  perfect  confidence  in  the  fact  that  Fort  Sumter  will  be  evacu 
ated  in  the  next  five  days,  and  that  this  is  felt  to  be  a  measure  imposing 
vast  responsibility  upon  the  administration. 

"  I  feel  perfect  confidence  that  no  measure  changing  the  existing  status 
of  things  prejudicially  to  the  southern  Confederate  States  is  at  present 
contemplated. 


GEXESIS  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  179 

"  I  feel  entire  confidence  that  any  immediate  demand  for  an  answer  to 
the  communication  of  the  commissioners  will  be  productive  of  evil  and 
not  of  good.  I  do  not  believe  that  it  should  be  pressed. 

"  I  earnestly  ask  for  a  delay  until  the  effect  of  the  evacuation  of  Fort 
Sumter  can  be  ascertained,  or  at  least  for  a  few  days, — say,  ten  days."  . 

Hon.  John  Bell,  of  Tennessee,  we  are  told,  strongly  urged 
Mr.  Lincoln  "  not  to  disturb  the  Confederate  States.  He 
had  assured  him  that  any  attempt  to  collect  the  revenue  or 
to  interfere  with  its  government  would  be  the  signal  for  the 
secession  of  every  border  State." 

"  The  reluctance  manifested  upon  the  part  of  the  com 
mittee  to  yield  to  any  delay,"  it  appears,  was  u  largely  as 
sumed,"  as  General  Crawford  states  that  Colonel  Forsyth, 
one  of  the  committee,  told  him  in  1870  that  their  secret 
instructions  from  Montgomery  were  "  to  play  with  Mr. 
Seward  to  delay  and  gain  time  until  the  South  was  ready." 

On  the  same  day  (15th  of  March)  President  Lincoln 
wrote  to  each  of  his  Cabinet  officers,  asking  a  written 
answer  to  the  following  question  :  "  Assuming  it  to  be  pos 
sible  to  now  provision  Fort  Sumter,  under  the  circumstances 
is  it  wise  to  attempt  it?" 

Mr.  Seward  answered  by  a  long  letter,  from  which  I 
make  the  following  extracts  : 

"  If  it  were  possible  to  peacefully  provision  Fort  Sumter,  of  course  I 
should  answer  that  it  would  be  both  unwise  and  inhuman  not  to  attempt 
it.  But  the  facts  of  the  case  are  known  to  be  that  the  attempt  must  be 
made  by  the  employment  of  a  military  and  marine  force,  which  would 
provoke  combat  and  probably  initiate  a  civil  war,  which  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  would  be  committed  to  maintain  through  all  changes 
to  some  definite  conclusion. 

"  Influenced  by  these  sentiments,  I  have  felt  that  it  is  exceedingly  for 
tunate  that  to  a  great  extent  the  Federal  Government  occupies  thus  far 
not  an  aggressive  attitude  but  practically  a  defensive  one,  while  the  ne 
cessity  for  action,  if  civil  war  is  to  be  initiated,  falls  on  those  who  seek  to 
dismember  and  to  subvert  the  Union. 

"  The  policy  of  the  time,  therefore,  has  seemed  to  me  to  consist  in  con 
ciliation,  which  should  deny  to  disunionists  any  new  provocation  or  ap 
parent  offence,  while  it  would  enable  the  unionists  in  the  slave  States  to 


180  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

maintain  with  truth  and  with  effect,  that  the  alarms  and  apprehensions 
put  forth  by  the  disunionists  are  groundless  and  false. 

"  If  it  be  indeed  true  that  pacification  is  necessary  to  prevent  dismem 
berment  of  the  Union  and  civil  war,  or  either  of  them,  no  patriot  and 
lover  of  humanity  could  hesitate  to  surrender  party  for  the  higher  in 
terests  of  country  and  humanity. 

"  Partly  by  design,  partly  by  chance,  this  policy  has  been  hitherto 
pursued  by  the  late  administration  of  the  Federal  Government  and  by 
the  Republican  party  in  its  corporate  action.  It  is  by  this  policy  thus 
pursued,  I  think,  that  the  progress  of  dismemberment  has  been  arrested 
after  the  seven  Gulf  States  had  seceded,  and  the  border  States  yet  remain, 
although  they  do  so  uneasily,  in  the  Union. 

"  Suppose  the  expedition  successful.  [For  the  reinforcement  of  Sum- 
ter.j  We  have  then  a  garrison  in  Fort  Sumter  that  can  defy  assault  for 
six  months.  What  is  it  to  do  then  ?  Is  it  to  make  war  by  opening  its 
batteries  and  attempting  to  demolish  the  defences  of  the  Carolinians? 
Can  it  demolish  them  if  it  tries  ?  If  it  cannot,  what  is  the  advantage  we 
shall  have  gained  ?  If  it  can,  how  will  it  serve  to  check  or  prevent  dis 
union  ?  In  either  case,  it  seems  to  me,  that  we  will  have  inaugurated  a 
civil  war  by  our  own  act,  without  an  adequate  object,  after  which  reunion 
will  be  hopeless,  at  least,  under  this  administration." 

The  Secretary  of  War  had  given  the  subject  careful  con 
sideration,  and  he  was  "  reluctantly  forced  to  the  conclusion 
that  it  would  be  unwise  now  to  make  any  such  attempt." 

A  like  opinion  was  expressed  by  the  remaining  members 
of  the  Cabinet,  with  the  exception  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  Mr.  Chase,  and  the  Postmaster-General,  Mr. 
Blair.  Mr.  Chase  expressed  himself  as  "  in  favor  of  some 
attempt  being  made  to  relieve  Fort  Sumter,  although  he 
was  not  now,  nor  had  he  previously  been,  decided  in  his 
expressions  to  that  effect." 

Postmaster-General  Blair  availed  himself  of  the  occasion 
to  enter  into  a  tirade  against  the  Democratic  party  and  the 
late  administration,  charging  that,  "  to  the  connivance  of 
the  late  administration,  it  is  due  alone  that  this  rebellion 
has  been  enabled  to  attain  its  present  proportions.  .  .  . 
The  action  of  the  President  in  1833  (he  said)  inspired  re 
spect,  while  in  1860  the  rebels  were  encouraged  by  the  con 
tempt  they  felt  for  the  incumbent  of  the  Presidency." 


GENESIS  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAK.  181 

He  strongly  urged  that  the  attempt  should  be  made.  "  I 
believe  (he  said)  that  Fort  Sumter  may  be  provisioned  and 
relieved  by  Captain  Fox  with  little  risk.  No  expense  or 
care  should  therefore  be  spared  to  achieve  this  success." 

Immediately  after  the  Cabinet  meeting  when  this  subject 
was  considered,  it  is  stated,  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Blair, 
that,  the  President  being  called  on  by  Mr.  Blair's  father, 
Francis  P.  Blair,  and  asked  "  If  it  had  been  determined  to 
withdraw  Anderson  from  Fort  Sumter,  the  President  re 
plied  that  it  had  not  yet  been  fully  determined  upon,  but 
that  the  Cabinet  were  almost  a  unit  in  favor  of  it, — c  all  ex 
cept  your  son,'  said  he, — and  that  he  thought  that  such 
would  be  the  result."  This  story,  General  Crawford  says, 
"  was  so  believed  in  the  country." 

I  remember  myself  hearing  Postmaster-General  Blair 
say  in  his  office,  probably  at  about  this  time,  that  a  force  of 
twenty-five  thousand  men  could  easily  put  clown  the  rebel 
lion.  The  result  shows  how  mistaken  he  was,  and  how 
unfit  for  Cabinet  counsel.  I  have  good  reason  to  believe, 
also,  that  his  spiteful  fling  at  President  Buchanan  was 
superinduced  not  by  any  patriotic  impulse  but  from  per 
sonal  pique.  It  is  apparent  that  there  was  "  no  love  lost" 
between  Mr.  Buchanan  and  the  Blairs.  I  have  before  me 
a  letter  from  Mr.  Buchanan  in  which,  remarking  that  he 
had  long  known  them,  he  says  :  "  Montgomery  had  not  the 
ability  to  make  a  respectable  advocate  of  the  Government 
in  the  Court  of  Claims." 

General  Crawford  states  that  Captain  G.  V.  Fox,  Post 
master-General  Blair's  brother-in-law,  was  sent,  with  the 
approval  of  the  President,  to  confer  with  Major  Anderson, 
arriving  at  Charleston  on  the  21st  of  March.  He  had  sug 
gested  a  scheme  for  the  relief  of  Sumter.  On  their  meet 
ing,  Major  Anderson  "  at  once  earnestly  condemned  any 
proposal  to  send  him  reinforcements,"  as  he  had  repeatedly 
done  as  far  back  as  the  time  when  Floyd  was  removed. 
"  He  asserted  that  it  was  too  late ;  he  agreed  with  General 


182  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

Scott  (who,  in  the  belief  that  the  surrender  of  Fort  Sumter 
had  heen  determined  upon,  advised  the  surrender  also  of 
Fort  Pickens)  that  an  entrance  by  sea  was  impossible,  and 
he  impressed  upon  Captain  Fox  his  belief  that  the  reinforce 
ments  coming  would  at  once  precipitate  a  collision  and 
inaugurate  civil  war." 

Not  five  only,  but  fifteen  days  had  now  passed  since  the 
date  of  Judge  Campbell's  "memorandum."  The  South 
Carolina  authorities  "  had  been  impatient  at  the  delay. 
The  promise  made  to  them  by  the  agent,  Lamon,  that  he 
would  shortly  return  to  remove  the  garrison  from  Fort 
Sumter  had  not  been  fulfilled." 

On  the  30th  of  March,  Governor  Pickens  telegraphed  the 
facts  of  Colonel  Lamon's  visit  to  the  commissioners  at 
Washington,  and  they  at  once  communicated  with  Judge 
Campbell.  "  On  that  day  the  Secretary  (Seward)  informed 
Justice  Campbell  that  '  the  President  was  concerned  at  the 
contents  of  the  telegram;'  that  *  the  question  involved  a 
point  of  honor,  and  that  Lamon  had  no  commission  or 
authority  from  him,  nor  any  power  to  pledge  him  by  any 
promise  or  assurance.' ' 

"  Mr.  Seward  said  to  Justice  Campbell  that  he  did  not 
think  the  President  would  attempt  to  supply  Fort  Sumter, 
and  that  there  is  no  intention  to  reinforce  it."  Judge 
Campbell  urged  immediate  evacuation.  Mr.  Seward  said, 
"  I  must  see  the  President."  He  returned  with  the  modi 
fied  answer,  "  I  am  satisfied  the  Government  will  not  under 
take  to  supply  Fort  Sumter  without  giving  notice  to  Gov 
ernor  Pickens." 

April  10,  Secretary  Seward  informed  the  commissioners 
that  "  the  Secretary  of  State  is  not  at  liberty  to  hold  official 
intercourse  with  them,"  and  they  communicated  this  de 
cision  to  the  authorities  at  Montgomery.  They  left  the 
city  the  next  day,  but  before  their  departure  a  telegram 
was  received  from  General  Beauregard  informing  them 
"  of  the  arrival  of  a  special  messenger  with  the  notice  of 


GENESIS  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAE.  183 

the  President  of  the  United  States  that  Fort  Sumter  was 
4  to  be  provisioned  either  peaceably  or  otherwise  forcibly.' ' 

It  should  be  remarked  that  at  no  stage  of  these  troubles 
was  Justice  Campbell  recognized  in  any  other  capacity 
than  that  of  a  private  gentleman,  nor  did  he  profess  to 
have  any  official  agency.  On  the  13th  of  April  fire  was 
opened  on  Fort  Sumter,  when  he  wrote  the  Secretary  of 
State,  charging  "  equivocating  conduct"  and  "  systematic 
duplicity/'  as  having  been  practised  upon  the  authorities 
at  Montgomery  through  him,  and  that  "  such  equivocating 
conduct  of  the  administration  was  the  proximate  cause  of 
the  great  calamity." 

At  length  the  fleet  intended  for  the  relief  of  Fort  Sumter 
put  out  to  sea,  and  "  before  daylight  on  the  12th  (April) 
the  rendezvous  agreed  upon  was  reached  oft' the  Charleston 
bar."  "  As  they  approached  the  land  the  firing  was  heard, 
and  the  smoke  and  shells  of  the  batteries  '  were  distinctly 
visible.' " 

The  first  gun  upon  the  national  flag  had  now  been  dis 
charged  and  actual  hostilities  commenced  by  the  enemies 
of  the  Union.  Little  did  they  anticipate  the  terrible  results 
of  their  folly  arid  rashness  in  firing  that  fatal  shot  which 
both  Presidents  Buchanan  and  Lincoln  had  so  earnestly 
sought,  by  forbearance  and  peaceful  measures,  to  avoid, — 
the  latter  pursuing,  as  he  did  for  nearly  six  weeks,  the 
same  conciliatory  policy  practised  by  his  predecessor, — nay, 
in  some  respects  even  greater  moderation  and  forbearance 
until  u  forbearance  ceased  to  be  a  virtue."  I  doubt  if  he 
thought  for  one  moment  that  peace  would  be  preserved 
for  another  day  after  he  notified  the  Governor  of  South 
Carolina  of  his  order  for  the  relief  of  Fort  Sumter.  After 
this  there  was  not  the  remotest  prospect  or  possible  reason 
to  hope  for  any  other  result.  As  he  himself  says,  in  his 
message  to  Congress,  the  4th  of  July,  1861,  "  The  policy 
chosen  looked  to  the  exhaustion  of  all  peaceful  measures 
before  a  resort  to  any  stronger  ones.  ...  It  promised  the 


184  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

continuance  of  the  mails  (and  they  were  continued  until 
the  31st  of  May)  at  the  Government  expense  to  the  very 
people  who  were  resisting  the  Government,  and  it  gave 
repeated  pledges  against  any  disturbance  to  any  of  the 
people  or  any  of  their  rights.  Of  all  that  a  President 
might  constitutionally  and  justifiably  do  in  such  a  case, 
everything  was  forborne  without  which  it  was  possible  to 
keep  the  Government  on  foot." 

How  true  it  is,  as  Joseph  Holt  has  pointedly  written, 
"  That  the  first  shot  in  the  rebellion  came  from  the  enemy 
was  due  wholly  to  this  policy  of  procrastination,  then  so 
severely  censured ;  and  yet  it  was  this  first  shot,  and  the 
fact  that  it  was  fired  not  from,  but  upon,  Fort  Sumter  and 
the  flag  floating  over  it  that  inflamed  and  united  the  coun 
try,  and  gave  to  the  national  patriotism  a  fervor  and  resist 
less  impetus  which  carried  our  armies  and  people  in  triumph 
and  glory  through  the  war.  Had  the  first  shot  come  from 
the  batteries  of  Sumter,  the  fierce  party  passions  then 
raging  would  have  been  swift  to  denounce  the  administra 
tion  as  making  war  upon  the  South,  and  fatal  dissensions 
among  ourselves  might  have  ensued.  Could,  therefore,  the 
short-sighted  carpers  of  that  day  have  been  able  to  see  the 
end  from  the  beginning,  the  reproaches  which  they  heaped 
upon  President  Buchanan  would  have  turned  to  blessings 
on  their  lips." 

It  is  time  to  bring  this  long  paper  to  a  close.  When  I 
began,  I  had  no  idea  of  extending  it  to  so  great  a  length 
It  was  not  my  purpose  to  undertake  a  regular  review  ot 
General  Crawford's  highly  interesting  volume,  but  by  unim 
peachable  evidence,  including  not  a  little  from  his  own  pen, 
to  show  not  only  that,  in  the  general  treatment  of  his  subject, 
he  has  done  great  injustice  to  President  Buchanan  and  mem 
bers  of  his  Cabinet  who  stood  by  him,  but  also  to  demon 
strate,  as  I  believe  I  have  done  indisputably,  that  never  at 
any  time  did  he  give  any  pledge  not  to  send  relief  to  the 
garrison  in  Charleston  harbor ;  and  that,  as  the  result  has 


GENESIS  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  185 

proved,  his  steady  precaution  in  guarding  against  any  and 
every  step  which  the  secessionists  might  have  seized  on  as 
an  overt  act  on  his  part,  was  the  wisest  course  that  could 
possibly  have  been  adopted,  looking  to  the  fearful  difficulties 
by  which  he  was  surrounded  and  the  grave  responsibility 
resting  upon  him  to  preserve  the  peace,  if,  by  any  means 
short  of  dishonor,  war  could  be  averted.  It  was  this  mod 
eration  and  forbearance  that  carried  the  Government  over 
to  President  Lincoln  without  bloodshed,  and,  as  we  have 
seen,  he  pursued  the  same  policy  until  it  was  apparent, 
beyond  doubt  or  hope,  that  the  only  alternative  now  was 
national  disgrace  or  civil  war.  Forced  to  decide,  he  chose 
the  latter  alternative  and  laid  down  his  life,  a  martyr  to  the 
sacred  cause  of  the  Union. 

Now,  talk  as  you  will — censure  Presidents  Buchanan  and 
Lincoln  as  you  may — touching  their  action  in  regard  to  the 
forts  at  Charleston,  which  it  was  but  natural  every  loyal 
person  should  have  wished  to  see  strengthened,  and  hence 
the  futile  attempts  to  respond  to  their  patriotic  impulse ; 
but  I  venture  the  assertion  that  after  the  election  of  Lincoln 
there  never  was  a  day  prior  to  Major  Anderson's  removal 
to  Sumter,  when  those  forts  would  not  have  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  the  secessionists  before  any  reinforcements  could 
have  reached  them,  no  matter  how  secretly  ordered.  As  to 
secrecy,  such  a  thing,  as  we  have  seen,  was  impossible,  with 
secession  spies  in  and  out  of  Government  office,  everywhere 
around  us. 

WASHINGTON-,  February  2,  1888. 

NOTE. — It  is  due  to  history  that  I  should  state  here  that  the  foregoing 
article  was  written  at  the  desire  of  General  Holt,  who,  before  General 
Crawford's  book  was  published,  had  learned  from  conversation  with  him 
that  he  intended  to  make  some  strictures  upon  President  Buchanan's 
course  in  regard  to  Fort  Sumter  that  were  unjust.  Shortly  after  the  book 
appeared  I  read  it  carefully,  and  when  I  had  finished  the  article  I  sent 
for  General  Holt  to  come  to  my  house  for  the  purpose  of  submitting  it  to 
him.  I  handed  him  paper  and  pencil  with  request  to  note  the  number 
of  any  page  in  which  he  might  wish  to  make  any  change.  He  listened 


186  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

attentively  to  the  end  without  a  pencil  mark  or  a  single  word,  and, 
rising  to  take  his  leave,  he  said,  in  an  earnest  and  emphatic  manner, 
"  You  have  exhausted  the  subject,"  thus  expressing  entire  acquiescence 
in  and  approval  of  the  narrative.  H.  K. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

JOHN   A.  DIX. 

How  it  happened  that  General  Dix  was  made  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
— The  Coe-Spaulding  Letters — Names  of  Secession  Senators  who 
voted  against  Mr.  Holt's  Nomination  for  Secretary  of  War — Plot  to 
Poison  President  Buchanan. 

DOUBTLESS  not  many  have  seen  the  remarkable  corre 
spondence  between  Mr.  George  S.  Coe,  of  New  York  City, 
and  Hon.  E.  S.  Spaulding,  formerly  a  member  of  Congress, 
of  Buffalo,  New  York,  relating  to  the  removal  of  Philip  F. 
Thomas,  and  the  appointment  of  John  A.  Dix,  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  in  January,  1861. 

Mr.  Coe  writes  under  date  of  February  14,  1888,  and, 
premising  that  "  all  incidents  of  the  civil  war  are  now  of 
historic  interest,"  says  he  "  recalls  very  vividly  the  fact  of 
meeting  you  [Mr.  Spaulding]  one  morning  at  the  Bank  of 
Commerce  to  confer  about  the  payment  of  the  Government 
loan,  which  our  bank  in  New  York  had  taken  in  connection 
with  Baring  Bros.  &  Co.,  of  London,  and  had  paid  in  part, 
when  it  was  discovered  that  Thomas  [then  Mr.  Buchanan's 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury]  was  to  transfer  the  money  into 
the  Confederate  region,  where  it  would  be  captured  by  the 
enemy.  The  question  for  us  to  consider  was,  whether  we 
should  pay  or  default  upon  the  balance.  Upon  that  ques 
tion  we  sent  Mr.  Moses  Taylor,  John  C.  Green,  and  A.  A. 
Lowe  to  Washington  to  confer  with  Mr.  Buchanan.  I  feel 
quite  confident  that  you  were  the  trusted  agent  to  confer 
with  us  on  the  subject,  and  it  resulted  in  the  appointment 


JOHN  A.  DIX.  187 

of  General  Dix  to  be  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  when  we 
paid  the  money." 

Mr.  Spaulding's  answer  is  dated  February  17.  He  says, 
what  is  well  known,  that  soon  after  the  assembling  of  Con 
gress  in  December,  1860,  "  Howell  Cobb  resigned  the  office 
of  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  leaving  the  disloyal  deputy 
Philip  Clayton,  of  Georgia,  in  charge  of  the  Treasury  De 
partment.  President  Buchanan  then  appointed  Philip  F. 
Thomas,  of  Maryland,  Secretary  to  fill  the  vacancy,  and 
John  J.  Cisco,  who  was  loyal  to  the  Union,  continued  to 
act  as  Sub-Treasurer  in  the  city  of  New  York,  while  the 
Assistant  Secretary  at  Washington  was  disloyal,  and  ap 
parently  acted  with  a  view  to  discredit  the  bonds  and 
financial  credit  of  the  United  States." 

Mr.  Spaulding  proceeded  to  give  an  account  of  the' 
course  now  taken  to  raise  "  more  money  to  pay  current 
expenses  and  the  interest  on  the  bonds,"  supposed  to  be 
the  bonds  about  to  be  offered  under  act  of  Congress  of 
December  17,  1860,  for  a  loan  to  the  Government.  As  the 
record  which  I  have  examined  shows,  Secretary  Thomas, 
who  came  in  soon  after  Mr.  Cobb  resigned  on  the  8th  of  De 
cember,  issued  an  advertisement,  under  date  of  December  18, 
inviting  sealed  proposals  "  until  the  28th  December  for  the 
issue  of  any  portion  or  the  whole  of  $5,000,000  in  treasury 
notes  in  exchange  for  gold  coin  of  the  United  States  within 
five  days  from  the  acceptance  of  such  proposals,"  under  the 
authority  of  the  aforesaid  act.  "  After  this  loan  was  made 
[Mr.  Spaulding  states]  it  became  apparent  that  more  money 
was  being  transferred  to  the  Southern  States  than  was  neces 
sary,  and  that  the  United  States  army  was  to  a  large  extent 
located  in  the  Southern  States.  One  or  more  of  the  instal 
ments  was  paid  on  the  bids  on  the  last  of  December,  1860. 
The  financial  situation  became  more  and  more  alarming  at 
the  attitude  of  the  disloyal  men  in  Mr.  Buchanan's  Cabinet. 
Mr.  Buchanan  was  himself  in  some  degree  vacillating  and  un 
decided,  but  was  generally  believed  to  be  loyal  to  the  Union. 


188  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

"  Three  of  his  Cabinet — viz.,  Jeremiah  Black,  Edwin  M. 
Stanton,  and  Joseph  Holt — were  known  to  Mr.  Seward  and 
others  to  be  loyal  to  the  Union,  and  were  ready  to  co-operate 
in  preserving  the  finances  and  other  important  measures 
until  Mr.  Lincoln  should  be  inaugurated  on  the  4th  of  the 
following  March." 

O 

Under  these  circumstances  Mr.  Spaulding  says  that  he 
went  from  Washington — he  was  then  in  Congress — to  New 
York  "  to  consult  the  brokers  who  had  bid  for  the  loan  with 
a  view  to  have  them  hold  back  the  payment  of  further  in 
stalments  until  the  new  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  could 
be  selected  and  appointed  by  Mr.  Buchanan,  and  General 
Dix  was  mentioned  as  a  good  man  for  the  place  in  the 
emergency."  The  result  was  that  through  the  influence, 
as  he  states,  of  a  committee  of  distinguished  gentlemen 
who  returned  with  him  to  Washington,  in  conference  with 
Senator  Seward  and  the  loyal  members  of  the  Cabinet,  the 
President  "  finally,  in  a  very  few  days,  removed  Mr.  Thomas 
and  appointed  John  A.  Dix  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in 
his  place.  General  Dix  came  to  Washington  and  took  pos 
session  of  the  Treasury  Department.  The  remaining  in 
stalments  on  the  loan  were  paid,  and  the  Treasury  De 
partment  was  thereafter  well  managed." 

In  this  connection,  not  wishing  to  cast  the  least  doubt 
as  to  the  correctness  of  Mr.  Spaulding's  narrative,  it  seems 
apropos  that  I  should  relate  the  substance  of  what  I  wrote 
to  the  New  York  Tribune  on  the  3d  of  May,  1879,  published 
in  that  paper  near  that  date.  I  had  seen  it  stated  that 
Judge  Black  had  written  to  the  Philadelphia  Times  that 
"  General  Dix  was  not  appointed  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
by  Mr.  Buchanan  in  consequence  of  a  pressure  from  New 
York  capitalists,  as  has  been  said,  and  that  only  one  person 
mentioned  his  name  to  the  President  before  the  appoint 
ment  was  made."  Quoting  this,  I  said  that  I  had  good 
reason  to  believe  that  President  Buchanan  invited  General 
Dix  to  Washington  not  to  take  charge  of  the  Treasury  De- 


JOHN  A.  DIX.  183 

partment,  but  with  a  view  to  his  appointment  as  Secretary 
of  War.  At  that  time,  January  1,  1861,  Postmaster-Gen 
eral  Holt,  by  designation  of  the  President,  was  Secretary  of 
War  ad  interim,  vice  John  B.  Floyd.  Under  the  law  this  left 
me  as  acting  Postmaster-General.  Philip  F.  Thomas  was 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  having  succeeded  Howell  Cobb. 
The  more  ardent  Union  men  near  the  President  were  not 
satisfied  to  have  Mr.  Thomas  in  the  Cabinet,  and  when  Gen 
eral  Dix  was  sent  for,  Mr.  Stanton,  Attorney-General,  re 
quested  me  to  meet  General  Dix  on  his  arrival  at  the  depot, 
and,  if  possible,  obtain  his  acquiescence  in  the  plan,  which  I 
was  to  divulge  to  him,  of  inducing  the  President  to  appoint 
him  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  These  instructions  I  carried 
out  with  alacrity.  I  had  a  carriage  ready,  and  before  Gen 
eral  Dix  reached  his  lodgings  at  Willard's  Hote],  he  had 
heartily  agreed  to  the  proposition.  Taking  leave  of  him 
for  the  night — he  arrived  by  the  evening  train — I  was 
driven  at  once  to  Mr.  Stan  ton's  residence  on  C,  near  Four- 
and-a-half  Street.  Having  company  in  the  parlor,  he  met 
me  in  the  hall,  and  when  I  informed  him  that  all  was  as  he 
desired,  he  was  so  filled  with  delight  that  he  seized  and 
embraced  me  in  true  German  style.  General  Dix  was 
immediately  appointed  to  the  Treasury,  vice  Thomas,  and 
confirmed  by  the  Senate  January  11,  1861. 

It  is  proper  to  remark  here  that  some  time  after  I  wrote 
as  above  to  the  Tribune, — it  may  have  been  a  year  or  two, 
more  or  less, — meeting  Judge  Black  in  Washington,  he 
intimated  to  me,  somewhat  darkly,  that  this  account  of 
mine  was  not  the  true  history  of  the  case.  I  did  not  un 
derstand  him  as  doubting  my  narrative,  but  he  appeared 
disinclined  to  tell  me  wherein  it  was  erroneous,  if  it  were 
so,  and  greatly  to  my  regret  I  never  afterwards  had  an 
opportunity  of  speaking  with  him,  as  I  intended  to  do,  on 
the  subject. 

I  am  reminded  by  this  correspondence,  also,  of  a  private 
letter  written  on  the  22d  of  December,  1860,  by  President 


190  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

Buchanan  to  Royal  Phelps,  Esq.,  of  Xew  York,  which,  with 
explanatory  remarks,  was  published  in  the  Magazine  of 
American  History  for  July,  1887.  A  copy  of  that  letter  was 
given  by  Mr.  Phelps,  some  time  before  his  death,  to  a  gen 
tleman  of  world-wide  fame,  George  Bancroft,  who,  in  speak 
ing  of  it  to  me,  expressed  the  opinion  that  it  looked  as 
though  President  Buchanan  had  made  up  his  mind  to  let 
the  Cotton  States  go.  I  was  startled  by  this  remark,  when 
he  offered  to  read  the  letter  to  me.  I  listened,  almost 
breathlessly,  to  its  close,  when,  naturally  relieved,  I  said 
that  I  saw  nothing  whatever  in  it  to  justify  any  construc 
tion  unfavorable  to  Mr.  Buchanan.  It  showed  his  great 
anxiety  to  have  the  loan  just  advertised  "  taken  at  a  reason 
able  rate  of  interest,"  and  argued  that  such  investment 
would  be  perfectly  safe  even  "  should  the  Cotton  States 
withdraw  from  the  Union."  Said  he,  "  Trade  cannot  easily 
be  drawn  from  its  accustomed  channels.  I  would  sacrifice 
my  life  at  any  moment  to  save  the  Union,  if  such  were  the 
will  of  God;  but  this  great  and  enterprising  and  brave 
nation  is  not  to  be  destroyed  by  losing  the  Cotton  States, 
even  if  this  loss  were  irreparable,  which  I  do  not  believe 
unless  from  some  unhappy  accident." 

The  explanation  appeared  to  satisfy  my  distinguished 
friend,  and  he  afterward  gave  me  a  copy  of  Mr.  Buchanan's 
letter,  leaving  me  free  to  publish  it,  but  on  my  own  respon 
sibility — which  I  did  not  hesitate  to  assume — accompany 
ing  the  letter  with  an  explanatory  key. 

To  the  contemporaries,  certainly,  of  Messrs.  Coe  and 
Spaulding,  it  must  seem  a  little  strange  to  hear  Mr.  Spauld- 
ing  say  that  "  three  of  his  [Buchanan's]  Cabinet — viz.,  Jere 
miah  Black,  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  and  Joseph  Holt — were 
known  to  Mr.  Seward  and  others  to  be  loyal  to  the  Union." 
We  can  afford  to  pass  by  the  oft-repeated  remark  of  Presi 
dent  Buchanan's  "  vacillating"  and  indecision.  Xo  doubt 
he  was  generally  believed  to  be  "  loyal  to  the  Union." 

As  regards  those  three  members  of  his  cabinet,  two  were 


JOHN  A.  DIX.  191 

from  Pennsylvania  and  the  third,  although  from  Kentucky, 
needed  no  stronger  proof  of  his  loyalty  than  was  demon 
strated  when  his  nomination  for  Secretary  of  War  came  up 
for  confirmation  and  the  following  senators  voted  against 
it, — viz.,  Bayard  (father  of  the  now  Secretary  of  State), 
Benjamin,  Bragg,  Clingman,  Green,  Hemphill,  Hunter, 
Iverson,  Lane,  Mason,  Polk,  Slidell,  and  Wigfall.  "  Many 
of  the  conspirators  had  previously  withdrawn  from  the 
Senate,"  else  this  proof  had  been  still  stronger. 

I  well  remember  that  Philip  Clayton  was  one  of  the  most 
rabid  and  outspoken  disunionists  in  Washington,  and  at 
the  period  referred  to  by  Mr.  Spaulding  the  city  was  full 
of  them.  All  that  appeared  to  be  necessary  for  their  tri 
umphant  success  in  the  last  days  of  1860,  provided  they 
could  have  controlled  Yice-President  Breckinridge,  which 
is  doubtful,  was  that  the  hellish  plot  to  poison  President 
Buchanan  at  the  ^sTational  Hotel,  in  the  spring  of  1857,  prior 
to  his  inauguration,  had  succeeded,  in  which  event  the  Yice- 
President  would  have  been  in  the  Presidential  chair.  Of 
course  neither  Mr.  Breckinridge  nor  any  but  base  wretches 
like  the  assassins  of  Lincoln,  knew  of  or  would  have  counte 
nanced  such  an  infamous  proceeding,  but  with  a  Southern 
man  not  opposed  to  secession  in  the  chair  of  State,  who 
knows  that  he  might  not  have  deemed  it  wise,  as  well  as 
merciful,  to  have  favored  a  coup  d'etat,  a  la  Napoleon  III., 
and  withheld  the  reins  from  Lincoln,  with  a  view  to  the 
preservation  of  peace  ?  They  (the  disunionists)  had  Con 
gress  and  the  Supreme  Court  almost  in  their  power,  and 
with  all  branches  of  the  Executive  Government  also  in 
their  hands,  thus  controlling  the  Treasury,  the  army,  and 
the  navy,  what  could  the  people  have  done  but  submit  to 
fate? 

Was  the  thought  of  such  plot  chimerical  ?  It  may  be, 
but  since  I  first  ventured  to  express  it  in  a  letter  published 
in  the  Providence  Journal  of  December  3, 1863, 1  have  met 
many  well-informed  persons  who  have  said  they  fully  be- 


192  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

lieve  it,  but  the  only  public  confirmation  of  it  I  have  seen 
is  the  following  extract  from  the  private  journal  of  the  late 
H.  J.  Raymond,  editor  of  the  New  York  Times,  published 
in  Scr&ner's  Monthly  Magazine  for  March,  1880,  as  follows : 

"THURSDAY,  March  5  [1863]. 

"  At  lunch  to-day  I  had  a  talk  with  Mr.  Forbes  [the  celebrated  war  cor 
respondent,  who  married  General  M.  C.  Meigs's  daughter].  He  said  he 
had  very  good  reasons  for  saying  that  the  famous  disease  at  the  National 
Hotel,  in  Washington,  in  1857,  from  which  so  many  persons  suffered,  was 
the  result  of  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Southern  disunionists  to 
poison  Buchanan,  in  order  to  bring  in  Breckinridge  as  President,  who 
was  in  their  councils,  and  would  throw  the  power  of  the  Government 
into  their  scale.  He  said  that  soon  after  he  visited  a  prominent  South 
ern  politician,  living  at  Culpepper  Court  House,  in  Virginia,  and  that 
from  what  there  transpired  he  was  convinced  he  was  in  the  plot.  He 
did  not  mention  his  name,  and  I  did  not  think  it  proper  to  ask  it." 

WASHINGTON,  February  24,  1888. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

THE   "  STOLEN   ARMS." 

Letter  from  ex- President  Buchanan— The  Real  Facts  of  the  Case— In 
vestigation  in  Congress — Secretary  J.  B.  Floyd's  Order  for  Colum- 
biads  revoked  by  his  Successor. 

IN  looking  over  the  things  of  the  past  I  have  thought 
an  interesting  chapter  might  be  introduced  on  the  contro 
verted  subject  of  the  "  stolen  arms."  A  great  deal  was 
said  and  written  on  the  subject  in  the  early  days  of  the 
rebellion,  and,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  letter  of  November 
12,  1861,  of  ex-President  Buchanan,  in  Chapter  X.,  the 
matter  was  fully  investigated  by  the  Committee  on  Military 
Affairs  of  the  United  States  House  of  Representatives. 
Hon.  Benjamin  Stanton,  the  chairman  of  that  committee, 
who  made  the  report,  was  a  Republican  member  from  the 
State  of  Ohio. 


THE  "STOLEN  ARMS."  193 

I  obtained  and  sent  to  Mr.  Buchanan  the  desired  copies 
of  Mr.  Stanton's  report,  and  the  following  observations  of 
the  venerable  ex-President,  as  copied  from  his  book,  entitled 
"  Mr.  Buchanan's  Administration  on  the  Eve  of  the  Eebel- 
lion,"  will  show  the  use  he  made  of  it.  The  spicy  corre 
spondence  between  him  and  General  Scott  relative  to  the 
efforts  to  reinforce  Fort  Sumter,  etc.,  will  doubtless  be  re 
membered  by  the  intelligent  reader.  After  giving  a  full 
history  of  his  own  action  in  that  matter  he  says : 

"  The  general  deemed  it  wise  to  escape  from  his  awkward  position  by 
repeating  and  endorsing  the  accusation  against  Secretary  Floyd  in  regard 
to  what  have  been  called  *  the  stolen  arms/  although  this  had  been  con 
demned  as  unfounded  more  than  eighteen  months  before  by  the  report 
of  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 
This  was  that  the  Secretary,  in  order  to  furnish  aid  to  the  approaching 
rebellion,  had  fraudulently  sent  public  arms  to  the  South  for  the  use 
of  the  insurgents.  This  charge  chimed  in  admirably  with  public  preju 
dice  at  the  moment. 

"  Although  the  committee,  after  full  investigation,  had,  so  long  before 
as  January,  1861,  proved  it  to  be  unfounded,  yet  it  has  continued,  not 
withstanding,  to  be  repeated  and  extensively  credited  up  till  the  present 
moment.  Numerous  respectable  citizens  still  believe  that  the  Confed 
erate  States  have  been  fighting  us  with  cannon,  rifles,  and  muskets  thus 
treacherously  placed  in  their  possession.  This  delusion  presents  a 
striking  illustration  of  the  extent  to  which  public  prejudice  may  credit 
a  falsehood  not  only  without  foundation  but  against  the  clearest  official 
evidence.  Although  the  late  President  has  not  been  implicated  as  an 
accessory  to  the  alleged  fraud,  yet  he  has  been  charged  with  a  want 
of  vigilance  in  not  detecting  and  defeating  it. 

"The  pretext  on  which  General  Scott  seized  to  introduce  this  new 
subject  of  controversy  at  so  late  a  period  (November,  1862)  is  far-fetched 
and  awkward."  Mr.  Buchanan,  while  repelling  the  charge  in  the  gen 
eral's  report  to  President  Lincoln  that  he  had  acted  under  the  influence 
of  Secretary  Floyd  in  refusing  to  garrison  the  Southern  fortifications, 
declares  that  "  all  my  Cabinet  must  bear  me  witness  that  I  was  the  Presi 
dent  myself,  responsible  for  all  the  acts  of  the  administration  ;  and  cer 
tain  it  is  that  during  the  last  six  months  previous  to  the  29th  of  Decem 
ber,  1860,  the  day  on  which  he  resigned  his  office,  after  my  request,  he 
exercised  less  influence  in  the  administration  than  any  other  member  of 
the  Cabinet." — Letter  to  National  Intelligencer,  October  28,  1862. 

13 


194  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

Whereupon  the  general,  in  order  to  weaken  the  force 
and  impair  the  credibility  of  this  declaration,  makes  the 
following  insidious  and  sarcastic  remarks  : 

"Now,  notwithstanding  this  broad  assumption  of  responsibility,  I 
should  be  sorry  to  believe  that  Mr.  Buchanan  specially  consented  to  the 
removal  by  Secretary  Floyd  of  one  hundred  and  fifteen  thousand  extra 
muskets  and  rifles,  with  all  their  implements  and  ammunition,  from 
northern  repositories  to  southern  arsenals,  so  that  on  the  breaking  out 
of  the  maturing  rebellion  they  might  be  found  without  cost,  except  to 
the  United  States,  in  the  most  convenient  positions  for  distribution 
among  the  insurgents.  So,  too,  of  the  one  hundred  and  twenty  or  one 
hundred  and  forty  pieces  of  heavy  artillery,  which  the  same  secretary 
ordered  from  Pittsburg  to  Ship  Island  in  Lake  Borgne,  and  Galveston, 
Texas,  for  forts  not  yet  erected."  .  .  . 

"  But  to  proceed  to  the  report  of  the  committee,  which  effectually  dis 
proves  the  general's  assertions.  .  .  .  The  committee  made  their  first 
report  on  the  9th  of  January,  1861.  With  this  they  presented  two  tables 
(Nos.  2  and  3)  communicated  to  them  by  Mr.  Holt,  then  the  Secretary  of 
War,  from  the  Ordnance  Bureau,  exhibiting  '  the  number  and  descrip 
tion  of  arms  distributed  since  the  1st  of  January,  1860,  to  the  States  and 
Territories,  and  at  what  price.  Whoever  shall  examine  Table  No.  2  will 
discover  that  the  Southern  and  Southwestern  States  received  much  less 
in  the  aggregate  instead  of  more  than  the  quota  of  arms  to  which  they 
were  justly  entitled  under  the  law  for  arming  the  militia.  Indeed,  it  is  a 
remarkable  fact  that  neither  Arkansas,  Delaware,  Kentucky,  Louisiana, 
North  Carolina,  nor  Texas  received  any  portion  of  these  arms,  though 
they  were  army  muskets  of  the  very  best  quality.  This  arose  simply 
from  their  own  neglect,  because  the  quota  to  which  they  were  entitled 
would  have  been  delivered  to  each  of  them  on  a  simple  application  to  the 
Ordnance  Bureau.  The  whole  number  of  muskets  distributed  among  all 
the  States,  North  and  South,  was  just  eight  thousand  four  hundred  and 
twenty-three.  Of  these  the  Southern  and  Southwestern  States  received 
only  two  thousand  and  ninety-one,  or  less  than  one-fourth. 

"  Again,  the  whole  number  of  long-range  rifles  of  the  army  caliber 
distributed  among  all  the  States  in  the  year  1860  was  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  twenty-eight.  Of  these,  six  of  the  Southern  and  South 
western  States — Kentucky,  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  North  Carolina,  Ten 
nessee,  and  Virginia — received  in  the  aggregate  seven  hundred  and  fifty- 
eight,  and  the  remainder  of  these  States  did  not  receive  any. 

"  Thus  it  appears  that  the  aggregate  of  rifles  and  muskets  distributed 
in  1860  was  ten  thousand  one  hundred  and  fifty-one,  of  which  the  South 
ern  and  Southwestern  States  received  two  thousand  eight  hundred  and 


THE  "STOLEN  AKMS."  195 

forty- nine,  or  between  one-third  and  one- fourth  of  the  whole  number. 
Such  being  the  state  of  the  facts,  well  might  Mr.  Stanton  have  observed, 
in  making  this  report,  much  to  his  credit  for  candor  and  fairness,  that 
1  there  are  a  good  deal  of  rumors  and  speculations  and  misapprehensions 
as  to  the  true  state  of  facts  in  regard  to  this  matter.'  " — Congressional  Globe, 
1860-61,  p.  294. 

The  report  of  the  committee  and  the  opinion  expressed 
by  its  chairman  before  the  House,  it  might  have  been  sup 
posed,  would  satisfy  General  Scott  that  none  of  these  mus 
kets  or  rifles  had  been  purloined  by  Secretary  Floyd.  But 
not  so.  The  ex-President  had  stated  in  his  letter  to  the 
National  Intelligencer  of  November  7, 1862,  that  "  the  South 
ern  States  received  in  1860  less  instead  of  more  than  the 
quota  of  arms  to  which  they  were  entitled  by  law."  This 
statement  was  founded  on  the  report  of  the  committee, 
which  had  now  been  brought  fully  to  his  notice.  He,  not 
withstanding,  still  persisted  in  his  error,  and  in  his  letter 
to  the  National  Intelligencer  of  the  2d  of  December,  1862,  he 
says :  "  This  is  most  strange  contrasted  with  information 
given  to  me  last  year,  and  a  telegram  just  received  from 
Washington  and  a  high  officer  now  of  the  Ordnance  De 
partment,  in  these  words  and  figures  :  '  Rhode  Island,  Del 
aware,  and  Texas  had  not  drawn  at  the  end  of  1860  their 
annual  quotas  of  arms  for  that  year,  and  Massachusetts, 
Tennessee,  and  Kentucky  only  in  part.  Virginia,  South 
Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida,  Alabama,  Louisiana,  Mississippi, 
and  Kansas  were,  by  the  order  of  the  Secretary  of  War, 
supplied  with  their  quotas  for  1861  in  advance,  and  Penn 
sylvania  and  Maryland  in  part/  ' 

"  It  is  in  vain  that  the  general  attempts  to  set  up  an  anon 
ymous  telegram  against  the  report  of  the  committee.  .  .  . 
There  is  a  mysterious  vagueness  about  this  telegram,  cal 
culated,  if  not  intended,  to  deceive  the  casual  reader  into 
the  belief  that  a  great  number  of  these  arms  had  been  dis 
tributed  among  the  enumerated  States,  embracing  their 
quotas  not  only  of  1860,  but  for  1861.  From  it  no  person 


196  TUENING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

could  imagine  that  these  eight  States  in  the  aggregate  had 
received  fewer  muskets  and  rifles  than  would  be  required 
to  arm  two  full  regiments. 

"  The  next  subject  investigated  by  the  committee  was, 
had  Secretary  Floyd  sent  any  cannon  to  the  Southern 
States  ?  This  was  a  most  important  inquiry.  Our  colum- 
biads  and  32-pounders  were,  at  the  time,  considered  equal, 
if  not  superior,  to  any  cannon  in  the  world.  It  was  easy 
to  ascertain  whether  he  had,  treacherously  or  otherwise, 
sent  any  of  these  formidable  weapons  to  the  South.  Had 
he  done  this  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  conceal  the 
fact  and  escape  detection.  The  size  and  ponderous  weight 
of  these  cannon  rendered  it  impracticable  to  remove  them 
from  the  North  to  the  South  without  the  knowledge  of 
many  outside  persons  in  addition  to  those  connected  with 
the  Ordnance  Bureau.  The  committee  reported  on  this 
subject  on  the  18th  of  February,  1861.  There  was  no 
evidence  before  them  that  any  of  these  cannon  had  actually 
been  transmitted  to  the  South.  Indeed,  this  was  not  even 
pretended.  From  their  report,  however,  it  does  appear 
that  Secretary  Floyd  had  attempted  to  do  this  on  one  oc 
casion  a  very  short  time  before  he  left  the  Department,  but 
that  he  had  failed  in  this  attempt  in  consequence  of  a  coun 
termand  of  his  order  issued  by  Mr.  Holt,  his  successor  in 
the  War  Department. 

"  It  requires  but  a  few  words  to  explain  the  whole  trans 
action.  Secretary  Floyd,  on  the  20th  of  December,  1860, 
without  the  knowledge  of  the  President,  ordered  Captain 
(now  Colonel)  Maynadier,  of  the  Ordnance  Bureau,  to  cause 
the  guns  necessary  for  the  armament  of  the  forts  011  Ship 
Island  and  Galveston  to  be  sent  to  those  places.  This  order 
was  given  verbally,  and  not  in  the  usual  form.  It  was  not 
recorded,  and  the  forts  were  far  from  being  prepared  to 
receive  their  armaments.  The  whole  number  of  guns 
required  for  both  forts,  according  to  the  statement  of  the 
Engineer  Department  to  Captain  Maynadier,  was  one  hun- 


THE  "STOLEN  ARMS."  197 

dred    and  thirteen   columbiads   and  eleven   32-pounders. 
When,  late  in  December,  1860,  these  were  about  to  be/ 
shipped  at  Pittsburg  for  their  destination  on  the  steamer 
Silver  Wave,  a  committee  of  gentlemen  from  that  city  first! 
brought  the  facts  to  the   notice  of  President  Buchanan.  \ 
The  consequence  was  that,  in  the  language  of  the  report 
of  the  committee,  *  Before  the  order  of  the  late  Secretary 
(Floyd)  had  been  fully  executed,  by  the  actual  shipment  of 
said  guns  from  Pittsburg,  it  was  countermanded  by  the 
present  Secretary.'    This  prompt  proceeding  elicited  a  vote 
of  thanks  on  the  4th  of  January,  1861,  from  the  Select  and 
Common  Councils  of  that  city,  '  to  the  President,  the  At 
torney-General  (Black),  and  the  acting  Secretary  of  War 
(Holt).'  .  .  . 

"  The  committee  then,  in  the  third  place,  extended  back 
their  inquiry  into  the  circumstances  under  which  Secretary 
Floyd  had  a  year  before,  in  December,  1859,  ordered  the 
removal  of  one-fifth  of  the  old  flint-lock  muskets  from  the 
Springfield  armory,  where  they  had  accumulated  in  incon 
venient  numbers,  to  five  Southern  arsenals.  The  com 
mittee,  after  examining  Colonel  Craig,  Captain  Maynadier, 
and  other  witnesses,  merely  reported  to  the  House  the  tes 
timony  they  had  taken,  without  in  the  slghtest  degree  im 
plicating  the  conduct  of  Secretary  Floyd.  .  .  . 

"The  United  States  had  on  hand  four  hundred  and 
ninety-nine  thousand  five  hundred  and  fifty  four — say  five 
hundred  thousand — of  these  muskets.  They  were  in  every 
respect  inferior  to  the  new  rifle  muskets,  with  which  the 
army  had  for  some  years  been  supplied.  They  were  of  the 
old  caliber,  .69  of  an  inch,  which  had  been  changed  in  1855 
to  that  of  .58  in  the  new  rifle  muskets.  It  was  one  hundred 
and  five  thousand  of  these  arms  that  Secretary  Floyd  or 
dered  to  be  sent  to  the  five  Southern  arsenals ;  i  sixty-five 
thousand  of  them  were  percussion  muskets  of  the  caliber 
of  .69,  and  forty  thousand  of  this  caliber  altered  to  per 
cussion.'  By  the  same  order  ten  thousand  of  the  old  per- 


198  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

cussion  rifles  of  the  caliber  of  .54  were  removed  to  these 
arsenals.  These  constitute  the  one  hundred  and  fifteen 
thousand  extra  muskets  and  rifles,  with  all  their  imple 
ments  and  ammunition,  which,  according  to  General  Scott's 
allegation,  nearly  three  years  thereafter,  had  been  sent  to 
the  South  to  furnish  arms  to  the  future  insurgents.  We 
might  suppose  from  this  descripton — embracing  i  ammuni 
tion,'  powder,  and  ball,  though  nowhere  to  be  found  except 
in  his  own  imagination — that  the  secessionists  were  just 
ready  to  commence  the  civil  war.  His  sagacity,  long  after 
the  fact,  puts  to  shame  the  dulness  of  the  Military  Com 
mittee.  While  obliged  to  admit  that  the  whole  proceeding 
was  officially  recorded,  he  covers  it  with  an  air  of  suspicion 
by  asserting  that  the  transaction  was  4  very  quietly  con 
ducted.'  And  yet  it  was  openly  conducted  according  to 
the  prescribed  forms,  and  must  have  been  known  at  the 
time  to  a  large  number  of  persons,  including  the  general 
himself,  outside  either  of  the  War  Department,  the  Spring 
field  armory,  or  the  Southern  arsenals.  In  truth,  there  was 
not  then  the  least  motive  for  concealment,  even  had  this 
been  possible." 

The  general  pronounces  these  muskets  and  rifles  to  have 
been  of  an  "  extra"  quality.  It  may,  therefore,  be  proper  to 
state  from  the  testimony  what  was  their  true  character. 

In  1857  proceedings  had  been  instituted  by  the  War 
Department  under  the  act  of  3d  March,  1825,  "  to  author 
ize  the  sale  of  unserviceable  ordnance,  arms,  and  military 
stores."  The  inspecting  officers  under  the  act  condemned 
one  hundred  and  ninety  thousand  of  the  old  muskets  "  as 
unsuitable  for  the  public  service,"  and  recommended  that 
they  be  sold.  In  the  spring  of  1859  fifty  thousand  of  them 
were  offered  at  public  sale.  "  The  bids  received,"  says 
Colonel  Craig,  "  were  very  unsatisfactory,  ranging  from 
10 J  cents  to  $2,  except  one  bid  for  a  small  lot  for  $3.50. 
In  submitting  them  to  the  Secretary  I  recommended  that 
none  of  them  be  accepted  at  less  than  $2. 


THE  "STOLEN  ARMS."  199 

An  effort  was  then  made  to  dispose  of  them  at  private 
sale  for  the  fixed  price  of  $2.50.  So  low  was  the  estimate 
in  which  they  were  held  that  this  price  could  not  be  ob 
tained,  except  for  thirty-one  thousand  six  hundred  and  ten 
of  them  in  parcels.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that,  although  the 
State  of  Louisiana  had  purchased  five  thousand  of  them 
at  $2.50,  she  refused  to  take  more  than  two  thousand 
five  hundred.  On  the  5th  of  July,  1859,  Mr.  H.  G.  Fant 
purchased  a  large  lot  of  them  at  $2.50  each,  payable  in 
ninety  days,  but  in  the  mean  time  he  thought  better  of  it, 
and,  like  the  State  of  Louisiana,  failed  to  comply  with  his 
contract;  and  Mr.  Belknap,  whose  bid  at  $2.15  for  one 
hundred  thousand  of  them,  intended  for  the  Sardinian 
•government,  had  been  accepted  by  the  Secretary,  under  the 
impression  that  it  was  $2.50,  refused  to  take  them  at  this 
price  after  the  mistake  had  been  corrected.  Colonel  Craig, 
in  speaking  of  these  muskets  generally,  both  those  which 
had  and  those  which  had  not  been  condemned,  testified  that 
"  It  is  certainly  advisable  to  get  rid  of  that  kind  of  arms 
whenever  we  have  a  sufficient  number  of  others  to  supply 
their  places,  and  to  have  all  our  small-arms  of  one  caliber. 
The  new  gun  is  rifled.  A  great  many  of  those  guns  (flint 
locks),  altered  to  percussion,  are  not  strong  enough  to  rifle, 
and,  therefore,  they  are  an  inferior  gun.  They  are  of  a 
different  caliber  from  those  now  manufactured  by  the  Gov 
ernment." 

"  Had  the  cotton  States  at  the  time  determined  upon  re 
bellion  what  an  opportunity  they  lost  of  supplying  them 
selves  with  these  condemned  '  extra  muskets  and  rifles,'  of 
General  Scott!" 

Before  dismissing  this  subject,  the  space  devoted  to  which, 
I  trust,  will  not  be  deemed  unreasonable,  since  there  has 
been  so  much  doubt  about  it  in  the  public  mind,  it  may  not 
be  out  of  place  to  say  that  I  took  occasion,  about  three 
years  ago,  to  examine  the  records  in  the  Ordnance  Office, 
particularly  as  to  the  quantity  of  arms,  accoutrements,  etc., 


200  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

distributed  to  the  Southern  States  in  advance  for  1861,  and 
it  appeared  that  the  whole  quantity  to  Virginia  was  equal 
to  four  hundred  and  fifty  muskets ;  South  Carolina,  three 
hundred  and  thirty-five ;  Georgia,  five  hundred  and  seventy- 
six  ;  Florida,  one  hundred ;  Alabama,  four  hundred  and 
ten ;  Louisiana,  two  hundred  and  seventy-three,  for  W.  T. 
Sherman's  military  school;  Mississippi,  two  hundred  and 
twelve;  Arkansas,  one  hundred  and  eighty-two;  and  to 
Maryland,  one  hundred;  total,  two  thousand  six  hundred 
and  thirty-eight.  Pennsylvania  also  received  a  supply  equal 
to  nine  hundred  and  five  in  advance  for  that  year.  It 
should  be  observed  here  that  all  ordnance  stores,  including 
accoutrements  as  well  as  muskets,  were  charged  as  so  many 
muskets  at  thirteen  dollars  each;  therefore,  in  the  above 
aggregate  of  two  thousand  six  hundred  and  thirty-eight, 
for  instance,  there  may  have  been,  and  probably  was,  act 
ually  less  than  two  thousand  muskets  and  rifles  altogether. 
Neither  of  the  States  of  Delaware,  Kentucky,  Tennessee, 
North  Carolina,  nor  Missouri  received  any  ordnance  stores 
in  advance  for  1861,  for  the  reason,  no  doubt,  that  they  did 
not  apply  for  them.  The  yearly  quota  for  each  State  was 
very  small,  and  the  orders  for  distribution  were  made  from 
time  to  time,  in  the  ordinary  course  of  business,  as  the  ap 
plications  were  received. 

These  applications,  I  understand,  if  correct  as  to  quan 
tity  of  stores,  were  never  declined;  but  for  years  before  the 
war  some  of  the  States,  either  from  having  no  suitable  place 
for  the  storage  of  arms,  or  from  apprehension  of  their 
seizure  by  the  negroes,  to  be  used  in  a  servile  insurrection, 
omitted  to  apply  for  their  quotas,  and  did  not,  therefore,  re 
ceive  them.  I  did  not  take  time  to  make  a  very  thorough 
examination,  or  to  compare  one  year  with  another;  but, 
while  some  of  the  States  south  may  have  been  a  little 
earlier  or  a  little  more  prompt  than  formerly  in  securing 
their  quotas  for  1860  and  1861,  lam  bound  to  say  that  I 
have  seen  no  evidence  to  show  that  the  report  of  the  Com- 


THE  "STOLEN  AKMS."  201 

mittee  on  Military  Affairs  is  not  substantially  correct.  It 
may  be  that,  so  far  as  the  small  number  of  arms  distributed 
in  advance  for  1861  are  concerned,  had  the  Secretary  of 
War  sympathized  with  the  free  instead  of  the  slave  States, 
he  would  have  withheld  those  supplies ;  although  it  might 
have  done  more  harm  than  good  thus  early  to  have  indi 
cated  in  this  manner  a  want  of  confidence  in  the  honor  and 
loyalty  of  the  States  applying.  Be  that  as  it  may,  however, 
there  was  nothing  whatever  in  these  transactions  touching 
small-arms  which  could  in  the  remotest  degree  reflect  on 
either  the  patriotism  or  the  watchfulness  of  President  Bu 
chanan  ;  and,  as  to  Secretary  Floyd,  it  is  quite  apparent 
that,  leaving  muskets  and  rifles  out  of  sight,  he  had  enough 
to  answer  for  simply  in  regard  to  the  one  hundred  and  thir 
teen  columbiads  and  the  eleven  32-pounders,  about  which 
there  never  has  been  any  dispute.  He  was  no  doubt  greatly 
chagrined  at  the  revocation  of  his  extraordinary  order  by 
his  successor. 
August  19,  1874. 


PART  II. 
CHAPTER  I. 

UNPUBLISHED   LETTERS    OF   JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

The  Author's  Appointment  as  Commissioner  to  Free  the  Slaves  in  the 
District  of  Columbia— General  Scott  and  Mr.  Holt— F.  P.  Blair- 
Judge  Woodbury — General  Cameron's  Bank — Politics  in  Pennsyl 
vania — General  Dix. 

WHEATLAND,  NEAR  LANCASTER,  1st  May,  1862. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  have  received  your  favor  of  the  27th 
inst.  With  my  opinions  steadily  maintained  for  more  than 
a  quarter  of  a  century,  I  could  not  have  advised  you  to 
accept  the  appointment  of  appraiser  of  the  negroes  [of  the 
District  of  Columbia]  under  the  late  Emancipation  Act  [of 
April  16,  1862,  the  wisdom  of  which  was  doubted  by  many 
at  the  time],  yet  I  feel  much  gratified  with  the  token  of 
friendly  regard  manifested  by  your  letter.  If  you  have 
clone  wrong  by  accepting,  you  shall  never  be  upbraided  by 
me  for  it.  On  the  contrary,  I  ardently  hope  you  may  never 
have  occasion  to  regret  it. 

We  lately  had  a  visit  from  our  friend,  Dr.  Blake,  of 
Washington.  It  was  quite  refreshing  to  us  to  learn  so 
much  news  and  so  many  things  relating  to  our  friends  in 
that  city. 

I  sincerely  trust  that  your  daughter  enjoys  good  health 
and  is  happy. 

I  have  a  debt  due  me  in  Maryland  of  a  highly  merito 
rious  character ;  but  the  debtor,  after  years  of  delay,  now 
says  he  cannot  be  touched  on  account  of  an  act  of  the 
202 


UNPUBLISHED  LETTERS  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN.       203 

Legislature  suspending  all  proceedings  against  debtors  in 
that  State  up  till  November  next.  If  convenient,  I  would 
thank  you  to  send  me  a  copy  of  this  act  (of  course  not 
certified)  or  the  substance  of  it. 

With  my  kind  regards  to  Mrs.  King,  I  remain 
Very  respectfully, 

Your  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 
HON.  HORATIO  KING. 


WHEATLAND,  5th  October,  1865. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  have  received  your  favor  of  the  26th 
ultimo  with  the  two  copies  in  pamphlet  of  Mr.  Holt's 
reply  to  Montgomery  Blair,  and,  although  I  had  read  this 
before  in  the  newspapers,  I  received  it  with  pleasure  as  a 
token  of  your  friendly  regard. 

If  Mr.  Holt  had  appreciated  General  Scott  as  I  did  upon 
my  first  interview  with  him  after  I  had  unfortunately 
invited  him  to  Washington,  he  would  not  have  addressed 
him  the  letter  of  the  31st  August,  1865,  though  every  fact 
stated  therein,  and  more,  is  literally  true.  He  ought  to 
have  known  that  the  general  would  not  frankly  admit 
them,  notwithstanding  the  preface  of  praises  to  his  "  great 
name."  He  ought  to  have  stated  the  well-known  fact, 
which  could  not  be  denied,  without  any  such  reference, 
and  thus  escaped  the  evasive  and  unsatisfactory  answer. 
By  the  bye,  as  I  was  not  perfectly  certain  who  the  person 
was  that  induced  General  Scott  to  substitute  the  Star  of  the 
West  for  the  Brooklyn,  then  prepared  for  the  occasion,  I 
have  not  named  him  in  my  book. 

I  know  and  have  long  known  the  Blairs  perfectly  well, 
or,  rather,  old  Francis  P.  Blair,  for  Montgomery  had  not 
the  ability  to  make  a  respectable  advocate  of  the  Govern 
ment  in  the  Court  of  Claims.  If  President  Johnson  should 
fall  into  their  hands,  which  some  think  probable,  I  shall  not 


204  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

say  what  I  apprehend,  though  I  agree  with  him  on  his  plan 
of  restoration. 

I  thought  at  the  time  that  Mr.  Holt's  report  of  the  18th 
February,  coming  four  days  after  that  of  Mr.  "W.  A.  How 
ard,  from  the  select  committee,  expressed  unnecessary 
alarm.  If  you  have  never  read  this  report,  especially  the 
long  testimony  of  General  Scott,  I  would  advise  you  to 
read  it  as  a  curiosity.  You  may  find  it  in  vol.  ii.,  "Re 
ports  of  Committees  of  the  House,  1860-61,  No.  79."  I 
think  you  will  agree  with  me  that  the  testimony  justifies 
the  unanimous  conclusion  of  the  committee,  a  majority  of 
which  were  Republicans. 

I  forgot  to  mention  that,  according  to  my  best  recollec 
tion,  I  did  not  remove  Montgomery  Blair,  but  suffered  him 
to  remain  in  office  until  he  should  think  proper  to  resign, 
on  account  of  regard  for  the  memory  of  Judge  Woodbury. 
I  well  recollect  that  I  received  his  apparently  cordial  thanks 
for  my  forbearance.  His  conduct  towards  me  since  is  a 
characteristic  of  the  family.  Some  day,  in  passing,  you 
might  look  whether  he  did  not  resign. 

I  am  always  glad  to  hear  of  the  welfare  of  Annie  and 
her  mother;  and  I  hope  you  will  remember  me  to  them 
with  great  kindness. 

I  believe  my  book  will  be  published  in  the  course  of  the 
present  month.  It  has  been  delayed  much  longer  than  I 
desired  or  expected. 

My  own  health,  thank  God !  continues  remarkably 
good  considering  my  age,  and  I  have  excluded  myself 
entirely  from  any  part  in  party  politics,  still  believing, 
however,  in  the  Democratic  creed, — more,  if  possible,  than 
ever. 

Miss  Lane  desires  to  be  kindly  remembered  to  you. 
From  your  friend, 

Very  respectfully, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

HON.  HORATIO  KING. 


UNPUBLISHED  LETTERS  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN.       205 

WHEATLAND,  21st  April,  1866. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  was  happy  to  receive  and  peruse  your 
favor  of  the  12th  instant.  I  am  glad  to  infer,  from  the 
mule  ride  of  your  daughter  on  the  hot  ashes  of  Mount 
Vesuvius,  that  she  is  in  excellent  health.  May  she  continue 
healthy  and  happy  for  many,  very  many  years  ! 

I  am  happy  to  learn  your  favorable  opinion  of  my  book, 
as  well  as  that  of  Mr.  Holt.  As  you  have  loaned  your  copy 
away  so  much,  I  shall  embrace  the  first  opportunity  of 

presenting  you  another 

With  my  kind  regards  to  the  members  of  your  family,  I 
remain 

Very  respectfully, 

Your  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 
HON.  HORATIO  KING. 

p.  g. — [Keferring  to  his  last  interview  with  Colonel  Ben- 
ton].  The  Jacobs  letter  was,  I  know,  published  in  the 
Constitution;  but  the  copy  he  sent  me  is  from  another 
paper,  perhaps  the  Intelligencer, — I  know  not. 


WHEATLAND,  23  June,  1866. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  am  pleased  to  learn  that  you  arrived 
safely  at  home  the  day  you  left  us.  You  left  very  kind 
remembrances  of  you  behind.  Indeed,  the  Sabbath  when 
all  the  company  were  together  was  passed  charmingly,  but 
I  fear  not  much  to  Christian  edification. 

I  have  read  your  poem  ["  Employment  Necessary  to  Hap 
piness"].  There  is  much  good  sense  in  it  and  it  is  better 
than  the  common  run  of  American  poetry.  Still,  I  think 
you  were  more  distinguished  as  Assistant  Postmaster-Gen 
eral  and  as  the  chief  of  the  department  than  you  will  ever 
become  as  a  poet.  Notwithstanding,  I  read  your  poem  with 
great  pleasure  and  interest. 


206  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

I  have  not  yet  obtained  a  copy  of  the  letter  I  promised  to 
send  you.  It  shall  be  forthcoming  in  good  time. 

We  have  no  news  worth  mentioning.  The  four  ladies 
desire  to  be  kindly  and  cordially  remembered  to  you,  and 
we  all  desire  to  see  you  again  whenever  this  may  meet  your 
convenience. 

From  your  friend, 

Very  respectfully, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 
HON.  HORATIO  KING. 

WHEATLAND,  14  July,  1866. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  have  received  yours  of  the  9th  instant, 
and  now  send  you  a  copy  of  my  Hayesville  letter,*  which 
I  received  this  morning  from  the  Daily  Express  (Republi 
can)  of  Lancaster,  in  which  it  was  published  on  the  2d  Oc 
tober,  1861. 

"  Old  Blair,"  in  his  letter  to  the  public  of  August  15, 1856, 
against  my  election,  makes  a  point  of  my  recommendation 
of  General  Cameron's  bank  at  Middleton  as  a  safe  deposi 
tory  of  a  portion  of  the  public  money.  This,  he  asserts, 
was  made  a  short  time  before  Mr.  Folk's  election  in  1844, 
and  during  Mr.  Tyler's  administration,  when  the  deposit 
bank  system  was,  unfortunately,  in  full  operation.  I  have 
not  the  least  recollection  of  any  such  recommendation,  but 
if  it  exists,  as  I  suppose  it  does,  then  General  Cameron, 
my  neighbor,  and  at  that  time  my  political  friend,  must 
have  called  upon  me  for  it,  and  I  gave  it  as  a  matter  of 
course. 

Should  you  be  at  the  Treasury  Department  I  should  like 


*  Letter  addressed  to  Samuel  A.  Worth,  Esq.,  expresses  the  "  deep  in 
terest  he  feels  in  the  present  condition  of  our  country."  He  says  "  the 
war  has  become  inevitable  by  the  assault  of  the  Confederate  States  upon 
Fort  Sumter,"  and  that  until  the  Union  is  restored,  "  it  will  be  our  duty 
to  support  the  President  with  all  the  men  and  means  at  the  command  of 
the  country,  in  a  vigorous  and  successful  prosecution  of  the  war." 


UNPUBLISHED  LETTERS  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN.       207 

to  have  a  copy  of  this  letter,  which  Blair  says  was  written 
in  November,  1844  ;  but  I  say  in  sincerity  I  care  little  for 
it,  and  do  not  give  yourself  much  trouble  about  it. 

The  three  girls  left  me  on  yesterday  morning,  and  the 
house  is  now  quiet.     I  enjoyed  their  society  very  much. 
From  your  friend, 

Very  respectfully, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 
HON.  HORATIO 


WHEATLAND,  29th  August,  1866. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  Presuming  that  by  this  time  you  are  in 
Oxford  [Me.],  I  write  you  to  that  place  to  thank  you  for 
your  kind  letter  of  tne  17th  instant,  and  especially  for  the 
Portland  Argus  containing  my  Hayesville  letter.  I  thank 
you  for  having  caused  it  to  be  published.  It  is  in  perfect 
consistency  with  all  I  have  written  or  said. 

The  Democratic  party  of  this  State  are  now  in  high 
spirits,  and  feel  much  confidence  that  Clymer  will  be 
elected  Governor.  This  will  be  rendered  certain  if  even  a 
moderate  number  of  the  Republicans  should  reinforce  the 
Democratic  army  and  sustain  the  President's  policy. 

I  do  not  like  the  progress  to  Chicago.  I  think  it  is  ill- 
judged.  Mr.  Seward  can  never  obtain  the  confidence  of 
the  Democracy  of  this  State,  and  the  identification  of  the 
President  with  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  and 
the  doctrine  of  "  Squatter  Sovereignty,"  the  two  great 
measures  of  Mr.  Douglas,  will  not  add  to  his  strength. 
Judge  Black's  powerful  and  conclusive  reply  to  the  "  little 
giant"  does  not  seem  to  have  produced  any  effect  on  the 
President. 

I  approve  the  proceedings  of  the  Philadelphia  Conven 
tion  as  far  better  than  the  programme  of  the  Radicals.  .  .  . 

Mrs.  Johnston  is  now  with  me  on  a  visit.  She  is  in  fine 
health  and  excellent  spirits.  I  have  had  much  agreeable 
company  during  the  summer,  and  enjoy  my  usual  health. 


208  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

I  need  not  say  that  I  shall  always  be  happy  to  see  you  at 
Wheatland  whenever  you  may  be  able  to  come. 
From  your  friend, 

Very  respectfully, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 
HON.  HORATIO  KING. 

WHEATLAND,  2d  May,  1867. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  have  received  yours  of  the  29th  ultimo, 
informing  me  of  your  intended  departure  for  Europe.  May 
you  have  a  prosperous  voyage  and  a  happy  and  useful  visit 
to  the  Old  World.  My  best  wishes  will  attend  you  wherever 
you  may  go. 

You  will,  of  course,  meet  General  Dix  in  Paris,  from 
whom  I  have  not  heard  for  a  long  time.  I  believe  you 
were  present  in  Cabinet  and  heard  his  denunciation  of 

when  his  name  was  mentioned  in  connection  with  the 

mission  to  Turin.    How  changed  he  must  be,  because  he  and 
his  lady  have  since  been  on  friendly  and  visiting  terms  with 

and  his  family.   It  is  even  reported  that  Miss  Dix  is  to 

be  married  to 's  son.    The  last  is  gossip ;  the  first  is  true. 

I  am  rejoiced  to  learn  that  your  pecuniary  affairs  are  so 
prosperous. 

With  my  kindest  regards  to  Annie  Augusta, 
I  remain  very  respectfully, 
Your  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

HON.  HORATIO  KING. 

WHEATLAND,  1st  February,  1868. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  have  received  your  favor  of  the  28th 
ultimo,  and  cordially  congratulate  you  on  your  return  to 
your  country  after  your  European  tour.  It  may  be  called 
a  flying  visit,  considering  the  number  of  places  visited.  I 
have  no  doubt  you  enjoyed  yourself  very  much  and  derived 
profit  and  improvement  from  it.  The  meeting  with  your 
daughter  and  your  little  grandchild  must  have  been  pecu- 


WASHINGTON  NATIONAL  MONUMENT.  209 

liarly  agreeable,  and  I  trust  that  the  trip  may  prove  advan 
tageous  to  Henry,  who  was  doubtless  delighted  with  it. 

My  own  health,  thank  God !  is  now  good  for  a  man  of 
my  age,  and  I  live  in  tranquillity  and  contentment.  I 
trust  that  on  some  occasion  on  your  way  to  New  Hamp 
shire  you  may  visit  me  and  talk  over  events  both  foreign 

and  domestic 

Always  your  friend, 

HON.  HOKATIO  KING.  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

WHEATLAND,  7th  Feb.,  1868. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  have  received  yours  of  the  5th,  and 
know  not  how  I  came  to  write  you  down  as  a  New  Hamp 
shire  man,  for  I  was  well  aware  you  had  been  born  in  Maine. 
I  am  glad  of  the  mistake,  however,  as  it  has  caused  you  to 
send  me  the  biographical  sketch  of  yourself  by  Mr.  Mer- 
riam.  I  have  read  it  with  much  pleasure.  It  is  well  writ 
ten,  and  it  is  no  more  than  just  to  the  subject  of  it.  It 
omits  the  date  of  your  birth 

I  have  no  news  to  give  you.  Thank  God  !  I  am  very  well, 
and  always  remain,  sincerely  and  respectfully, 

"  Your  friend, 

HON.  HORATIO  KING.  JAMES  BucHANAN* 


CHAPTER    II. 

HON.   ROBERT    C.    WINTHROP   AND    THE   WASHINGTON    NATIONAL 

MONUMENT. 

ROBERT  C.  WINTHROP  was  appointed  by  resolution  of 
Congress  as  the  orator  on  the  occasion  of  the  dedication 
of  the  Washington  National  Monument  on  the  22d  of  Feb 
ruary,  1885,  but,  owing  to  a  serious  illness  a  few  weeks 
prior  to  that  time,  he  was  not  able  to  be  present  to  deliver 
the  grand  oration  he  had  prepared. 

14 


210  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

Near  the  end  of  June,  1884,  lie  received  formal  notice  of 
his  appointment  from  Senator  Sherman,  chairman  of  the 
commission  designated  by  Congress  to  make  the  necessary 
arrangements  for  the  dedication.  He  was  then  residing  at 
his  palatial  seat  in  Brookline,  Mass.,  and  he  immediately 
drove  over  to  see  me  at  my  summer  home  in  West  New 
ton,  five  or  six  miles  distant.  He  came  to  tell  me,  as 
secretary  of  the  Monument  Society,  of  his  embarrassment 
at  having  so  heavy  a  task  before  him.  I  observed  at  once 
that  he  was  very  nervous.  He  said  that  this  matter  had 
weighed  upon  him  for  a  month  past,  and  that  he  was  sorry 
to  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  he  ought  not  to  render 
himself  responsible  for  a  long  formal  oration,  adding  that 
he  should  immediately  break  down  under  such  an  effort 
and  do  but  poor  justice  to  himself  or  to  the  occasion.  He 
also  said  if  he  were  called  on  only  to  unite  with  others  in 
the  addresses  of  the  occasion,  he  should  be  encouraged  to 
make  a  brief  discourse,  but  should  not  dare  to  promise  an 
oration.  Recent  infirmities,  he  said,  warned  him  against 
undertaking  it,  that  his  family  all  advised  him  to  decline, 
and,  deeply  regretting  to  disappoint  his  friends  of  the 
association,  he  felt  constrained  to  avoid  so  great  a  respon 
sibility. 

He  seemed  much  relieved  when  I  assured  him  that  I 
believed,  under  the  circumstances,  an  address  of  fifteen  or 
twenty  minutes  would  be  satisfactory,  and  that  everybody 
would  cheerfully  excuse  him  from  any  labor  either  of 
preparation  or  delivery  likely  to  worry  or  fatigue  him. 
He  seemed  to  seize  on  this  idea,  and  said,  possibly  the 
commission  may  make  arrangements  for  having  three  or 
four  addresses  instead  of  one  oration.  In  such  an  arrange 
ment,  he  added,  he  would  willingly  take  part  with  Mr. 
Edmunds  and  Mr.  Carlisle,  as  President  of  the  Senate  and 
Speaker  of  the  House,  respectively,  or  with  Mr.  Sherman 
himself.  It  would  give,  he  thought,  variety  and  attraction 
to  the  ceremonies.  Finally,  he  said,  "  All  I  can  do  now 


WASHINGTON  NATIONAL  MONUMENT.  211 

is  to  decline  a  formal  oration,  as  it  is  to  this  only  I  am 
invited."  I  promised  to  write  both  Senator  Sherman  and 
Dr.  James  C.  Welling,  of  the  commission,  advising  them 
of  Mr.  Winthrop's  deep  concern  ahout  the  matter,  and  of 
the  assurances  I  had  given  him.  Both  immediately  an 
swered,  confirming  my  assurance. 

Senator  Sherman  said  :  "  You  may  say  to  Mr.  Winthrop 
that  the  commission  would  very  much  regret  if  he  should 
be  either  unable  or  unwilling  to  be  present,  and  that  he  is 
entirely  at  liberty  to  speak  as  much  or  as  little  as  his 
health  will  permit,  and  we  will  adapt  the  other  arrange 
ments  to  suit  his  convenience." 

Dr.  Welling  said :  "  I  should  deeply  lament  any  over 
taxing  of  the  health  or  strength  of  our  venerable  friend  in 
his  preparation  for  that  event;  that  while  the  committee 
are  naturally  anxious  that  he  should  be  the  central  figure 
among  the  speakers  on  that  occasion,  I  am  sure  that  in  their 
anxiety  to  make  sure  of  this  most  desirable  end  they  would 
cheerfully  defer  to  his  own  comfort  and  convenience  in  all 
that  relates  to  the  length  of  the  address." 

On  receipt  of  these  letters,  I  immediately  informed  Mr. 
Winthrop,  who  made  the  following  gratifying  reply  : 

"  BROOKLINE,  MASS.,  28th  June,  1884,  Saturday  evening. 
"  MY  DEAR  MR.  KING, — I  will  not  let  the  week  end  with 
out  having  thanked  you,  as  I  do  sincerely,  for  your  kind 
and  most  effective  intervention.  Your  two  notes  of  the 
26th  and  27th  reached  me  successively.  The  latter  con 
tained  the  note  of  Senator  Sherman,  which  was  everything 
I  could  have  desired,  and  which  afforded  me  great  satis 
faction  and  relief.  His  remark  that  I  might  say  '  as  much 
or  as  little  as  his  health  will  permit'  dispels  at  once  all  my 
doubts  and  difficulties,  and  has  taken  a  load  off  my  mind. 
This  evening  I  have  received  a  similar  assurance  from  him 
in  reply  to  my  own  letter,  and  I  shall  dismiss  all  further 
anxiety.  Accept  my  grateful  acknowledgments 


212  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

"  I  return  Senator  Sherman's  note  to  you,  but  have  kept 
a  copy  of  it  as  a  remembrancer. 

"  Believe  me  very  sincerely  and  gratefully  yours, 

"  KOB'T  C.  WINTHROP. 
"  HON.  HORATIO  KING." 

All  now  seemed  to  augur  well  for  the  future.  Thus 
encouraged,  Mr.  Winthrop  proceeded  to  write  his  oration. 
The  following  letter  will  show  that  he  was  in  good  spirits, 
and  that  he  was  no  longer  oppressed  by  the  task  before  him  : 

"  BOSTOX,  2d  Dec.,  1884,  90  Marlborough  Street. 
"DEAR  MR.  KING, — I  have  just  been  reading  the  two 
letters  of  my  friend  Stuart,  of  Virginia  [ex-Secretary  of 
the  Interior],  in  the  Sunday  Herald,  which  you  kindly  sent 
me.  I  think  he  has  established  a  fair  claim,  though  un 
consciously  on  his  own  part,  to  have  the  pretty  triangle 
[opposite  the  National  Theatre]  called  by  his  name.  But, 
at  all  events,  he  deserves  a  grateful  remembrance  in  Wash 
ington,  as  having  led  the  way  to  the  improvements  which 
have  so  adorned  the  capital.  I  owe  you  my  acknowledg 
ments,  too,  for  several  other  papers,  telling  me  of  the 
progress  of  the  great  monument.  The  little  aluminum  (or 
is  it  aluminium  ?)  capstone  is  particularly  interesting.  When 
that  is  fairly  in  place,  I  shall  begin  to  feel  that  it  is  time  for 
my  own  preparation  to  be  finished.  But  I  never  finish 
anything  until  the  last  moment.  You  will  have  observed 
that  the  22d  comes  on  Sunday.  I  hope  that  my  part  in 
the  ceremonies  will  be  arranged  for  Saturday.  Indeed,  I 
doubt  extremely  the  expediency  of  allowing  the  celebration 
to  occupy  more  than  one  day.  Congress  cannot  spare  two 
days  at  this  short  session,  and  the  people  who  come  from  a 
distance  will  not  stay  over  Sunday.  Two  hours  are  enough 
for  the  procession,  and  the  exercises  in  the  hall  ought  to 
begin  by  half-past  one  or  two  o'clock.  I  hope  a  chaplain 
will  be  selected  who  will  not  make  such  an  unconscionably 
long  prayer  as  Mr.  McJilton  made  in  1848.  I  trust,  too, 


WASHINGTON  NATIONAL  MONUMENT.  213 

that  the  Marine  Band  will  be  warned  against  such  long, 
unmeaning  interludes  as  they  gave  at  the  unveiling  of  the 
Marshall  Statue.  A  brief  prayer  and  a  few  patriotic  melo 
dies  are  all  that  should  come  before  the  oration. 

"  I  am  fairly  established  in  my  winter  quarters,  and  am 
trying  to  catch  some  inspiration  for  an  hours'  discourse.  I 
do  not  believe  I  can  say  what  I  ought  to  say  in  less  than  an 
hour.  But '  sufficient  unto  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof,'  and 
I  will  not  indulge  in  any  forebodings.  I  only  hope  the 
newspapers  will  not  have  exhausted  the  theme,  and  used 
up  all  the  material  before  the  day  arrives. 

"  One  of  the  papers  said  that  the  capstone  was  put  in 
place  last  Saturday  at  12  o'clock,  but  since  then  it  has 
been  stated  that  the  capstone  was  still  in  Philadelphia ! 
'  Grace  to  it,'  wherever  it  is  ! 

"  Kind  regards  to  Mrs.  King. 

il  Yours  very  truly, 

«  HON.  HORATIO  KINS."  "  RoB'T  °-  ^INIHROP. 

Most  unfortunately,  about  the  middle  of  December,  Mr. 
Winthrop  was  prostrated  by  u  a  sudden  and  insidious  at 
tack  of  pneumonia,  which  seized  him,  most  unexpectedly, 
on  Thursday  last  [his  son,  Mr.  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  Jr., 
writes,  December  18, 1884].  On  Friday  he  was  so  ill  we  did 
not  think  he  would  live  twenty-four  hours.  On  Saturday 
he  rallied,  and  we  were  encouraged  to  some  slight  hope." 
On  the  22d  of  December  he  writes :  "  My  father  con 
tinues  about  the  same,  and  while  his  physicians  do  not 
wholly  reject  the  possibility  of  his  recovery,  yet  the  chances 
are  much  against  it.  ...  In  no  possible  event  would  he  be 
able  to  be  in  Washington  by  February  next,  and  he  is  so 
feeble  at  present  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  consult  him 
about  having  his  address  read  by  somebody  else."  On 
the  25th  of  December  he  writes  that  his  father  continues 
"  slowly,  very  slowly,  to  improve ;"  that  he  will  "  feel 
highly  flattered  at  their  [the  committee  of  arrangements'] 


214  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

decision  to  abide  by  his  oration,  even  if  he  cannot  deliver 
it  in  person ;"  and  that  "  all  he  has  ever  said  on  the  subject 
is  that,  when  first  taken  ill,  he  remarked  to  me,  "  my  mon 
ument  address  is  substantially  finished.  I  might  have 
altered  it  a  little,  but  I  dare  say  I  should  not  have  bettered 
it."  January  3,  1885,  Mr.  Winthrop,  Jr.,  writes  :  "  My 
father,  though  still  very  feeble,  is  now  able  to  sit  up  a  por 
tion  of  each  day,  and  occasionally  has  letters  and  news 
papers  read  to  him.  .  .  .  To-day  I  read  him  your  letter  of 
January  1,  received  this  morning.  He  replied  :  "  Tell  Mr. 
King  that,  if  I  had  an  ounce  of  strength  in  my  body,  I 
should  make  haste  to  write  him  in  person,  to  thank  him  for 
his  many  expressions  of  kindness,  but  I  cannot  hold  a  pen. 
Tell  him  I  still  cling  to  the  hope  of  being  in  Washington 
on  the  21st  of  February,  but  I  realize  how  very,  very  im 
probable  it  is  that  I  shall  be  strong  enough  to  do  so." 

"  BOSTON,  90  Marlborough  Street,  14th  Feb.,  1885. 
"  HON.  HORATIO  KING, 

"  Sec'y  Washington  Monument  Association. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  sent  the  first  letter  written  by  my  own 
hand  since  my  illness  to  Senator  Sherman  yesterday,  telling 
him  that  I  had  been  compelled  to  abandon  the  last  hope 
of  being  at  Washington  next  week.  This  will  be  a  disap 
pointment  to  you  and  others,  perhaps  even  to  Congress  and 
the  country ;  but  certainly  to  myself,  beyond  all  others.  I 
had  hoped  for  some  weeks  past  to  be  able  to  be  present  at 
the  great  ceremonial,  and  to  pronounce  a  few  opening  sen 
tences  of  my  oration  before  handing  it  to  Governor  Long. 
But  '  man  proposes  and  God  disposes,'  and  I  will  not 
murmur  at  what  I  am  sure  has  been  ordered  wisely.  My 
physician  and  my  family  forbid  my  thinking  of  leaving  home 
at  present.  Indeed,  I  have  not  left  my  house  and  hardly  my 
chamber  as  yet,  and  I  should  have  been  utterly  unable  to  un 
dergo  the  fatigue  of  a  journey  to  Washington,  or  to  deliver 
any  part  of  my  oration  if  I  had  reached  there. 


WASHINGTON  NATIONAL  MONUMENT.  215 

"  My  son  has  communicated  to  me,  from  time  to  time, 
your  kind  letters,  and  I  thank  you  for  them.  I  trust  all 
will  go  off  well.  It  is  a  great  satisfaction  to  me  that  Gov 
ernor  Long  has  so  kindly  consented  to  read  the  oration.  I 
hope  that  our  friends  will  be  satisfied  with  it.  If  it  shall 
revive  some  impressions  of  the  real  grandeur  of  Washing 
ton's  character,  to  which  neither  obelisks  nor  orations  can 
do  full  justice,  it  will  have  answered  the  main  purpose  I 
had  in  view. 

"  But  I  have  tried  also  to  do  justice  to  the  builders  of  the 
monument,  including  the  association  and  Colonel  Casey. 
But  it  will  speak  for  itself,  and  I  will  say  no  more  about  it. 
"  Believe  me,  dear  Mr.  King, 

"  Very  truly  yours, 

"  ROB'T  C.  WINTHROP." 

I  add  an  extract  from  another  letter  referring  to  an  acci 
dental  omission,  and  to  the  tablet  containing  the  names  of 
persons,  to  be  placed  in  the  monument. 

"  BOSTON,  March  9th,  1885,  90  Marlborough  Street. 

"DEAR  MR.  KING, — Your  favor  of  the  26th  ult.  was 
duly  welcomed 

"If  I  can  anywhere  introduce  Dr.  [John  B.]  Blake's 
name  or  Senator  Sherman's  [in  official  edition  of  the  ora 
tion]  I  shall  do  so  with  pleasure.  I  am  sorry  that  Colonel 
Casey  has  been  disappointed  in  the  action  of  Congress.  I 
hope  no  tablets  will  be  affixed  on  the  inside  of  the  monu 
ment  of  an  extravagant  size,  or  with  too  many  names.  I 
should  think  a  small  tablet,  giving  the  date  of  the  dedica 
tion,  with  the  names  of  those  concerned  in  the  proceed 
ings,  is  all  that  could  be  wisely  adopted 

"  Thanks  for  all  your  pains  in  my  behalf.     I  congratulate 
you  on  the  success  of  the  inauguration  ceremonies. 
"  Yours  very  truly, 

"Eos'T  C.  WINTHROP. 

"  HON.  HORATIO  KING." 


PART  III. 
CHAPTER    I. 

THE    TRENT   AFFAIR. 

Excitement  in  Washington — Discussion  of  the  Neutrality  Laws — British 
Precedent — Edward  Everett  justifies  the  seizure — George  Ticknor 
Curtis  disapproves — Admiral  Wilkes  reports —Banquet  in  Boston 
to  the  Admiral — Secretary  Welles's  Congratulations — Mason  and 
Slidell  in  Custody — The  London  Times  Moderate — Earl  Russell  de 
mands  the  Release  of  the  Confederate  Commissioners — Mr.  Seward's 
Masterly  Diplomacy — The  Ambassadors  liberated — Public  Acqui 
escence  in  the  Decision. 

I  SHALL  never  forget  my  delight,  October  16, 1861,  when, 
on  meeting  Senator  John  P.  Hale  in  Pennsylvania  Avenue, 
opposite  the  White  House,  he  informed  me  in  a  jubilant 
manner  that  James  M.  Mason  and  John  Slidell,  Confed 
erate  Commissioners  to  England  and  France  respectively, 
had  been  captured  on  board  the  British  mail  steamer  Trent 
by  Captain  Charles  Wilkes,  of  the  United  States  steamer 
San  Jacinto,  and  brought  into  Hampton  Roads,  Virginia. 
Old  Point  Comfort  was  electrified  by  the  tidings,  and  the 
announcement  was  no  sooner  sent  over  the  wires  than  ex 
pressions  of  joy  were  heard  from  every  quarter  of  the  Union 
outside  the  seceded  States.  The  Baltimore  American  said : 
"  Two  of  the  magnates  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  two, 
perhaps,  who  have  been  as  potent  for  mischief  as  any  that 
could  have  been  selected  (out  of  South  Carolina)  from  the 
long  list  of  political  ingrates,  have  '  come  to  grief '  in  their 
persistent  attempts  to  destroy  the  noble  government  to  which 
they  owe  all  the  honorable  distinction  they  have  hitherto 
enjoyed." 

216 


THE  TRENT  AFFAIR.  217 

Neither  press  nor  people  waited  for  the  particulars  of  the 
capture  before  proceeding  to  discuss  at  length  the  question 
of  its  legality.  The  Baltimore  American,  while  apparently 
justifying  the  act,  expressed  the  opinion  that  it  was  "  a  vio 
lation  of  the  laws  of  neutrality,  strictly  considered ;"  but, 
later,  the  editor  said  he  thought  the  character  of  the  ques 
tion  was  "  beyond  the  reach  of  mere  diplomacy,"  and  that 
the  Government  had  no  other  alternative  than  to  adhere  to 
the  position  it  had  already  assumed.  "  In  numerous  ways 
Government  and  people  have  fully  endorsed  the  act  of  Cap 
tain  Wilkes,  and  the  verdict  will  never  be  reversed  although 
all  Europe,  with  England  at  its  head,  demand  it."  The  Na 
tional  Intelligencer  said  :  "  The  proceeding  of  Captain  Wilkes 
is  fully  justified  by  the  rules  of  international  law,  as  those 
rules  have  been  expounded  by  the  most  illustrious  British 
jurists  and  compiled  by  the  most  approved  writers  on  the 
laws  of  nations."  In  support  of  this  position  many  British 
authorities  were  cited.  In  the  declaration  of  war  by  Great 
Britain  against  Russia,  promulgated  on  the  28th  of  March, 
1854,  the  following  language  was  used :  "  It  is  impossible 
for  Her  Majesty  to  forego  her  right  of  seizing  articles  con 
traband  of  war,  and  of  preventing  neutrals  from  bearing 
enemies'  despatches." 

There  was  a  British  precedent  during  the  Mexican  War : 
General  Paredes,  a  bitter  enemy  of  the  United  States, 
was  arrested  in  1846,  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  and, 
being  in  Europe,  was  brought  to  Vera  Cruz  on  the  14th  of 
August,  1847,  in  the  British  mail  steamer  Treviot,  Secre 
tary  Buchanan  made  complaint  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Bancroft, 
our  Minister  to  England,  saying,  "  A  neutral  vessel,  which 
carries  a  Mexican  officer  of  high  military  rank  to  Mexico 
for  the  purpose  of  taking  part  in  hostilities  to  our  country, 
is  liable  to  confiscation,  according  to  the  opinion  of  Sir  Wil 
liam  Scott" — high  British  authority,  whom  he  quotes.  Mr. 
Bancroft  wrote  to  Lord  Palmerston,  who  admitted  the  jus 
tice  of  the  complaint,  and  the  commander  of  the  Treviot, 


218  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

Captain  May,  was  ordered  to  be  suspended  for  what  the 
British  Government  unhesitatingly  acknowledged  to  have 
been  a  violation  of  the  belligerent  rights  of  the  United 
States.  Dr.  Robert  Phillimore,  Advocate  of  Her  Majesty 
in  her  office  of  Admiralty  as  Judge  of  the  Cinque  Ports, 
held  that  "  it  is  indeed  competent  to  a  belligerent  to  stop 
the  ambassador  of  his  enemy  on  his  passage."  The  "Wash 
ington  Evening  Star,  November  9,  said,  "  The  British  Gov 
ernment  should  direct  Lord  Lyons  to  return  the  thanks  of 
Her  Majesty  to  the  United  States  Government  for  its  for 
bearance  in  not  having  seized  the  steamer  Trent,  brought 
her  into  port,  and  confiscated  ship  and  cargo  for  an  open 
and  flagrant  breach  of  international  law.  The  Queen's 
proclamation  of  May  last  acknowledged  the  rebel  States  to 
be  belligerents — enemies  of  the  United  States — and  by  their 
own  principles  of  international  law,  British  ships  were  there 
after  to  abstain  from  carrying  despatches,  or  doing  any  act 
that  favored  the  Confederates,  under  penalty  of  seizure  and 
confiscation.  Slidell  and  Mason  should  be  held  in  rigid 
custody  until  they  can  be  tried  and  punished  for  their 
crimes  against  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  Their 
sham  character  of  ambassadors  affords  no  protection.  It  is 
a  lawful  right  of  belligerents  to  seize  an  ambassador  as  soon 
as  any  other  person,  if  he  can  be  caught  at  sea.  The  min 
ister  appointed  by  the  Continental  Congress  to  Holland, 
Henry  Laurens,  was  captured  on  the  3d  of  September,  1780, 
by  a  British  frigate,  on  his  passage  to  Holland  near  New 
foundland,  was  taken  to  England,  and,  after  examination, 
committed  a  close  prisoner  in  the  Tower  of  London  on  a 
charge  of  high  treason.  Indulgence  would  be  thrown  away 
on  arch-traitors  like  Slidell  and  Mason." 

Hon.  Edward  Everett,  before  the  Middlesex  Mechanic's 
Association  at  Lowell,  justified  the  capture  of  Messrs.  Mason 
and  Slidell  as  perfectly  lawful — their  confinement  in  Fort 
Warren  perfectly  lawful — and  said  they  "  would  no  doubt 
be  kept  there  until  the  restoration  of  peace,  which  we  all  so 


THE  TEENT  AFFAIR.  219 

much  desire/' — and  "we  may,  I  am  sure,  cordially  wish 
them  a  safe  and  speedy  deliverance."  Mr.  George  Sumner, 
a  well-read  lawyer,  said  in  the  Boston  Transcript  of  Novem 
ber  18 :  "  The  act  of  Captain  Wilkes  was  in  strict  accord 
ance  with  the  principles  of  international  law  recognized  in 
England,  and  in  strict  conformity  with  English  practice." 
Even  the  British  Consul  at  New  Orleans,  Mr.  Muir,  it  was 
authoritatively  stated,  justified  the  seizure  and  supplied 
legal  authority  to  appear  in  a  leading  editorial  of  one  of 
the  city  papers. 

Mr.  George  Ticknor  Curtis  and  Mr.  George  S.  Hillard,  of 
Boston,  however,  among  others,  pointed  out  the  irregularity 
of  the  seizure  in  not  carrying  the  Trent  in  for  judicial  con 
demnation.  The  New  York  Herald  said :  "  It  will  not 
probably  enter  the  mind  of  a  single  American  for  a  mo 
ment,  even  after  reading  the  news  in  our  columns  to-day, 
that  Mason  and  Slidell  will  be  surrendered  to  the  English 
Government."  There  were  some  discordant  voices.  For 
instance,  the  New  Orleans  Crescent  said  this  "  high-handed 
interference  with  a  British  mail  steamer  by  the  Lincoln 
Government  will  either  arouse  John  Bull  to  the  highest 
pitch  of  indignation,  or  it  will  demonstrate  that  there  has 
been  an  understanding  between  the  two  governments  for  a 
long  time — that  England  has  been  and  is  assisting  the  Abo 
lition  Government  to  the  detriment  of  the  South." 

Then,  from  the  other  side  of  the  line,  the  Toronto  Globe 
and  Toronto  Leader  both  condemned  the  act.  The  Globe 
denounced  it  as  "  an  outrage  on  the  British  flag  and  an  in 
fraction  of  international  law ;"  and  the  Leader  declared  it 
was  "  the  most  offensive  outrage  which  Brother  Jonathan  has 
dared  to  perpetrate  upon  the  British  flag."  Immediate  lib 
eration  of  the  prisoners  and  apology,  they  claimed,  should 
be  demanded.  At  the  same  time  it  was  proposed  to  raise 
an  English  subscription  in  New  York  to  prosecute  the  cap 
tain  of  the  Trent  in  the  English  law  courts  for  violating  the 
Qeeen's  proclamation,  in  case  of  delay  of  the  Queen's  attor- 


220  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

ney-general  to  bring  suit,  or  the  owners  of  the  vessel  should 
decline  to  prosecute  him. 

Such  was  the  general  drift  of  public  sentiment  imme 
diately  after  the  news  of  the  capture  was  received.  The 
circumstances  attending  the  seizure  are  briefly  told.  The 
San  Jacinto,  which  had  been  attached  to  the  United  States 
African  squadron,  left  St.  Paul  de  Loanda  on  the  10th  of 
August,  in  temporary  command  of  Lieutenant  (now  Rear- 
Admiral)  D.  M.  Fairfax,  with  orders  to  wait  at  Fernando 
Po  for  Captain  Wilkes,  who  took  command  there.  On 
arrival  at  Cienfuegos,  he  learned  that  the  steamer  Theo 
dora  from  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  with  Messrs.  Siidell 
and  Mason  on  board,  had  run  the  blockade,  and  he  deter 
mined  to  pursue  and  intercept  her  if  possible.  On  reach 
ing  Havana,  he  found  she  had  left  that  port  on  her  return, 
and  that  the  Confederate  Commissioners  were  waiting  to 
take  passage  to  Europe  in  an  English  vessel.  He  then  con 
ceived  the  bold  plan  of  intercepting  the  British  mail  steamer 
and,  in  the  event  of  their  being  on  board,  to  make  them 
prisoners.  He  cruised  in  the  Old  Bahama  channel  where 
he  encountered  the  Trent  on  the  morning  of  the  8th  No 
vember.  The  account  reads  :  "  We  were  all  ready  for  her, 
beat  to  quarters,  and,  as  soon  as  she  was  in  reach  of  our 
guns,  every  gun  of  our  starboard  battery  was  trained  upon 
her.  A  shot  from  our  pivot  gun  was  fired  across  her  bow. 
She  hoisted  English  colors,  but  showed  no  disposition  to 
slacken  her  speed  or  heave  to.  We  hoisted  the  star- 
spangled  banner,  and  as  soon  as  she  was  close  upon  us  fired 
a  shell  across  her  bow,  which  brought  her  to."  Captain 
Wilkes  hailed  her,  and  said  he  would  send  a  boat.  There 
upon  he  ordered  Lieutenant  Fairfax  to  board  her.  Under 
date  of  November  12,  Lieutenant  Fairfax  reports  the  par 
ticulars  to  Captain  Wilkes,  on  board  the  San  Jacinto,  as  fol 
lows  :  "  At  1.20  P.M.  on  the£Jh  instant,  I  repaired  alongside 
of  the  British  mail  packet  in  an  armed  cutter,  accompanied 
by  Mr.  Houston,  second  assistant  engineer,  and  Mr.  Grace, 


THE  TRENT  AFFAIR.  221 

the  boatswain.  I  went  on  board  the  Trent  alone,  leaving  the 
two  officers  in  the  boat,  with  orders  to  wait  until  it  became 
necessary  to  show  some  force.  I  was  shown  up  by  the  first 
officer  to  the  quarter-deck,  where  I  met  the  captain  and 
informed  him  who  I  was,  asking  to  see  his  passenger  list. 
He  declined  letting  me  see  it.  I  then  told  him  that  I  had 
information  of  Mr.  Mason,  Mr.  Slidell,  Mr.  Eustis,  and  Mr. 
McFarland  having  taken  their  passage  at  Havana  in  the 
packet  to  St.  Thomas,  and  would  satisfy  myself  whether 
they  were  on  board  before  allowing  his  steamer  to  proceed. 
"  Mr.  Slidell,  evidently  hearing  his  name  mentioned,  came 
up  to  me  and  asked  if  I  wanted  to  see  him.  Mr.  Mason 
soon  joined  us,  and  then  Mr.  Eustis  and  Mr.  McFarland, 
when  I  made  known  the  object  of  my  visit.  The  captain  of 
the  Trent  opposed  anything  like  a  search  of  his  vessel,  nor 
would  he  consent  to  show  papers  or  passenger  list.  The 
gentlemen  above  mentioned  protested  also  against  my 
arresting  and  sending  them  to  the  United  States  steamer 
near  by.  There  was  considerable  noise  among  the  passen 
gers  just  about  that  time,  and  that  led  Mr.  Houston  and 
Mr.  Grace  to  appear  on  board  with  some  six  or  eight  men, 
all  armed.  After  several  unsuccessful  efforts  to  persuade 
Mr.  Mason  and  Mr.  Slidell  to  go  with  me  peaceably,  I 
called  to  Mr.  Houston  and  ordered  him  to  return  to  the 
ship  with  the  information  that  the  four  gentlemen  named 
in  your  order  of  the  8th  inst.  were  on  board,  and  force  must 
be  applied  to  take  them  out  of  the  packet.  About  three 
minutes  after  there  was  still  greater  excitement  on  the  quar 
ter-deck,  which  brought  Mr.  Grace  with  his  armed  party. 
I,  however,  deemed  the  presence  of  any  armed  men  un 
necessary,  and  only  calculated  to  alarm  the  ladies  present, 
and  directed  Mr.  Grace  to  return  to  the  lower  deck,  where 
he  had  been  since  first  coming  on  board.  It  must  have  been 
less  than  half  an  hour  after  I  boarded  the  Trent  when  the 
second  armed  cutter,  under  Lieutenant  Green,  came  along 
side  (only  two  armed  boats  being  used).  He  brought  in 


222  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

the  third  cutter,  eight  marines  and  four  machinists,  in  addi 
tion  to  a  crew  of  some  twelve  men.  When  the  marines 
and  some  armed  men  formed  just  outside  the  main-deck 
cabin,  where  these  four  gentlemen  had  gone  to  pack  up 
their  baggage,  I  renewed  my  efforts  to  induce  them  to 
accompany  me  on  board.  Still  refusing  to  accompany  me 
unless  force  was  applied,  I  called  to  my  assistance  four  or 
five  officers,  and  first  taking  hold  of  Mr.  Mason's  shoulder, 
with  another  officer  on  the  opposite  side,  I  went  as  far  as  the 
gangway  of  the  steamer  and  delivered  him  over  to  Lieuten 
ant  Green  to  be  placed  in  the  boat.  I  then  returned  for 
Mr.  Slidell,  who  insisted  that  I  must  apply  considerable 
force  to  get  him  to  go  with  me.  Calling  in  at  least  three 
officers,  he  also  was  taken  in  charge  and  handed  over  to 
Mr.  Green.  Mr.  McFarland  and  Mr.  Eustis  (the  secreta 
ries  of  Mason  and  Slidell),  after  protesting,  went  quietly 
into  the  boat.  They  had  been  permitted  to  collect  their 
baggage,  but  were  sent  in  advance  of  it,  under  charge  of 
Lieutenant  Green." 

Lieutenant  James  A.  Green  says:  "When  Lieutenant 
Fairfax  gave  the  order  for  the  marines  to  be  brought  in,  he 
heard  some  one  call  out  '  shoot  him.'  As  the  marines  ad 
vanced,  the  passengers  fell  back.  Mr.  Fairfax  then  ordered 
the  marines  to  go  out  of  the  cabin,  which  they  did,  Mr. 
Slidell  at  the  same  time  jumping  out  of  a  window  of  a  state 
room  into  the  cabin,  when  he  was  arrested  by  Mr.  Fairfax, 
and  was  then  brought  by  Mr.  Hall  and  Mr.  Grace  to  the 
boat,  into  which  he  got."  Lieutenant  Green  further  states 
that  Commander  Williams,  the  mail  agent,  said  the  North 
erners  "  might  as  well  give  up  soon."  Lieutenant  Green 
adds  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  captain,  who  was  "  re 
served  and  dignified,"  the  officers  of  the  vessel  generally 
showed'  an  undisguised  hatred  for  the  Northern  people  and 
a  sympathy  for  the  Confederates,  denouncing  Lieutenant 
Fairfax  and  his  men  as  "  pirates,  villains,"  etc.  He  says  he 
was  informed  by  one  of  the  crew  of  the  Trent  that  Com- 


THE  TRENT  AFFAIR.  223 

. » 
mander  Williams  was  advising  the  captain  to  arm  the  crew 

and  passengers  of  his  ship,  as  Williams  threatened  that 
"  the  English  squadron  would  break  the  blockade  in  twenty 
days  after  his  report."  f 

On  his  arrival  at  Hampton  Roads,  Captain  Wilkes  came 
ashore,  and  at  once  sent  Lieutenant  Taylor  with  his  report 
to  Washington.  He  had  a  long  conversation  with  General 
Wool,  then  in  command  there,  who  expressed  .the  opinion 
that  he  had  done  right,  and  said  that,  "  right  or  wrong,  he 
could  only  be  cashiered  for  it."  Wilkes's  report  to  Secre 
tary  Welles,  of  the  Navy,  bears  date  Hampton  Roads,  »No- 
vember  1£,  1861.  He  wrote  :  "  I  have  found  it  impossible  to 
reach  New  York,  my  coal  being  exhausted.  I  shall  procure 
sufficient  in  a  few  hours  to  proceed  forthwith  to  my  desti 
nation,  New  York,  where  I  hope  to  receive  your  instruc 
tions  relative  to  the  Confederate  prisoners  I  have  on  board 
this  ship.  I  have  determined  to  send  Commander  Taylor, 
United  States  Navy,  who  is  a  passenger  from  the  coast  of 
Africa,  to  Washington  by  the  boat,  as  a  bearer  of  despatches, 
and  have  given  him  orders  to  report  to  you  in  person." 

On  receipt  of  Captain  Wilkes's  report,  November  16,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  sent  to  Commodore  H.  Paul  ding, 
Commandant  of  the  Navy  Yard,  New  York,  the  following 
telegram :  "  You  will  send  the  San  Jacinto  immediately  to 
Boston,  and  direct  Captain  Wilkes  to  deliver  the  prisoners 
at  Fort  Warren.  Let  their  baggage  be  strictly  guarded  and 
delivered  to  the  colonel  at  Fort  Warren  for  examination. 
The  San  Jacinto  will  be  paid  off  at  Boston.  Send  amount 
of  money  required.  Answer  per  telegraph." 

On  the  same  day  William  H.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State, 
united  with  Secretary  Welles  in  the  following  telegram  to 
Robert  Murray,  United  States  Marshal,  New  York  :  "  You 
will  proceed  in  the  San  Jacinto  to  Fort  Warren,  Boston, 
with  Messrs.  Mason  and  Slidell  and  suite.  No  persons  from 
shore  are  to  be  permitted  on  board  the  vessel  prior  to  her 
departure  from  New  York."  We  next  hear  of  the  San 


224  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

Jacinto  at  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  21st  November,  where 
Captain  Wilkes  was  obliged  to  stop  on  account  of  the  stress 
of  weather  and  for  coal.  Meantime  it  appears  his  pris 
oners  had  united  in  a  request  that  they  might  be  permitted 
"  to  remain  in  custody  at  Newport,  on  account  of  the  com 
parative  mildness  of  climate  and  the  delicate  health"  of  one 
of  their  number.  They  said  they  were  "  willing  to  pledge 
themselves  not  to  make  any  attempt  to  escape,  nor  to  com 
municate  with  any  person  while  there  unless  permitted  to 
do  so."  This  request  being  sent  by  telegram  to  Secretary 
Welles,  he  replied  same  day,  November  21 :  "  The  Govern 
ment  has  prepared  no  place  for  confinement  of  the  prisoners 
at  Newport.  The  Department  cannot  change  destination 
of  the  prisoners." 

On  November  22,  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  telegraphed 
to  Captain  William  L.  Hudson,  Commandant  Navy  Yard, 
Boston :  "  Direct  Captain  Wilkes  immediately  on  his  ar 
rival  to  have  the  effects  of  the  rebel  prisoners  on  board  the 
San  Jacinto  thoroughly  examined,  and  whatever  papers  may 
be  found  to  send  them  by  special  messenger  to  the  Depart 
ment.  Answer  per  telegraph."  November  24,  Captain 
Wilkes  reported  his  arrival  at  Boston,  after  having  to  put 
into  Holmes's  Hole,  on  the  morning  of  the  22d,  on  account 
of  fog. 

On  her  way  from  Hampton  Roads  to  Fort  Warren,  the 
San  Jacinto  encountered  a  terrible  gale,  which  old  sailors 
said  had  not  been  surpassed  off  Cape  Cod  for  twenty  years, 
and  she  was  so  much  delayed  that  she  was  obliged,  as 
already  stated,  to  put  into  Newport  for  coal,  which  was 
sent  to  her  in  lighters.  The  Confederate  commissioners 
and  their  secretaries  occupied  the  captain's  cabin,  and 
messed  with  him  at  table.  He  had,  when  they  first  came 
on  board,  tendered  the  offer  of  his  cabin  for  the  accommo 
dation  of  their  families,  but  this  was  declined,  and  the  latter 
proceeded  on  their  way  in  the  Trent.  All  political  talk  was 
prohibited  by  Captain  Wilkes.  Colonel  Dimmick,  in  com- 


THE  TRENT  AFFAIR.  1>25 

mand  at  Fort  Warren,  received  the  prisoners;  their  baggage 
was  landed  and  examined,  consisting  of  six  or  eight  trunks, 
six  valises,  several  cases  of  brandy,  wines,  and  liquors,  a 
dozen  or  more  boxes  of  cigars,  and  two  cases  (pints  and 
quarts)  of  ale,  and  conveyed  in  two  carts.  No  despatches 
were  found.  These  all  went  on  with  the  ladies  of  the  pris 
oners,  and  reached  England  from  St.  Thomas  in  the  British 
steamer  La  Plata.  Shortly  after  going  on  board  the  San 
Jacinto,  the  prisoners  joined  in  a  letter  to  Captain  Wilkes, 
in  which  they  gave  their  version  of  the  circumstances  of 
their  arrest  and  transfer  to  his  ship,  and  requested  that 
it  be  forwarded  to  Washington  with  his  report,  which  was 
done.  They  afterwards  also  united  in  a  note  to  him, 
acknowledging  the  courtesy  with  which  they  had  been 
treated  on  board. 

There  was  a  banquet  at  the  Eevere  House,  in  Boston,  in 
honor  of  Captain  Wilkes,  Hon.  J.  Edmunds  Wiley  pre 
siding.  His  act  was  highly  applauded  by  Mr.  Wiley, 
Governor  Andrew,  and  Chief-Justice  Bigelow.  Captain 
Wilkes  and  Lieutenant  Fairfax  made  speeches,  briefly  de 
scribing  the  capture.  Captain  Wilkes  said  he  "  had  read 
in  the  law  books  that  despatches  from  an  enemy  were  con 
traband  of  war,  and  he  took  it  for  granted  that  ambassadors 
were  the  embodiment  of  despatches."  In  his  report  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy,  he  called  them  "  live  despatches." 
Governor  Andrew  said  he  was  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary 
of  War  when  the  despatch  came  announcing  the  capture, 
and  that  he  joined  heartily  in  the  cheer  led  by  the  Secre 
tary.  He  pronounced  the  act  as  "  not  only  wise  judgment, 
but  also  manly  and  heroic  success." 

On  November  30,  Secretary  Welles  wrote  Captain  Wilkes 
at  Boston  :  "  I  congratulate  you  on  your  safe  arrival,  and 
especially  do  I  congratulate  you  on  the  great  public  service 
you  have  rendered  in  the  capture  of  the  rebel  emissaries. 
Messrs.  Mason  and  Slidell  have  been  conspicuous  in  the 
conspiracy  to  dissolve  the  Union,  and  it  is  well  known  that 

15 


226  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

• 

• 

when  seized  by  you  they  were  on  a  mission  hostile  to  the 
Government  and  the  country.  Your  conduct  in  seizing 
these  public  enemies  was  marked  by  intelligence,  ability, 
decision,  and  firmness,  and  has  the  emphatic  approval  of 
this  department.  It  is  not  necessary  that  I  should  in  this 
communication — which  is  intended  to  be  one  of  congratu 
lation  to  yourself,  officers,  and  crew — express  an  opinion 
on  the  course  pursued  in  omitting  to  capture  the  vessel 
which  had  these  public  enemies  on  board,  further 'than  to 
say  that  the  forbearance  exercised  in  this  instance  must 
not  be  permitted  to  constitute  a  precedent  hereafter  for 
infractions  of  neutral  obligations." 

The  news  of  the  seizure  reached  the  Lords  Commission 
ers  in  London  on  the  3Xth  of  November,  and  by  their  order 
was  immediately  communicated  to  Earl  Russell.  At  the  same 
time  a  public  meeting  was  called  there,  and  a  resolution 
presented  calling  on  the  Government  "  to  assert  the  dignity 
of  the  British  flag  by  requiring  prompt  reparation  for  this 
outrage."  On  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  John  Campbell,  one 
of  the  speakers,  that  the  capture  might  ha>ve  been  justifia 
ble  in  view  of  British  law  on'the  subject,  the  resolution  was 
laid  over. 

The  London  Times  was  at  first  quite  moderate.  It  fully 
admitted  the  right  of  search,  and  said  the  British  Govern 
ment  "  had  established  a  system  of  international  law  which 
now  tells  against  us."  It  quoted  Lord  Stowell,  who  held 
that  "  the  only  security  that  nothing  is  to  be  found  incon 
sistent  with  amity  and  the  law  of  nations,  known  to  the 
law  of  nations,  is  the  right  of  personal  visitation  and 
search  to  be  exercised  by  those  who  have  an  interest  in 
making  it."  It  also  cited  the  opinion  of  Chancellor  Kent, 
wherein  he  declared  that  "  The  duty  of  self-preservation 
gives  to  belligerent  nations  this  right.  The  doctrine  of  the 
English  Admiralty  Courts  on  the  right  of  visitation  and 
search  and  on  the  limitation  of  the  right,  has  been  recog 
nized  in  its  fullest  extent  by  the  courts  of  justice  in  this 


THE  TKENT  AFFAIR.  227 

country'''  (the  United  Stages).  But  the  Times  claimed  that 
when  these  decisions  were  given  a  different  state  of  things 
existed.  There  were  then  no  mail  steamers  or  vessels  "  car 
rying  letters  wherein  all  the  nations  of  the.wor!4  have  im 
mediate  interest."  Hence  England  did  then  what  they 
would  not  now  do  nor  allow  others  to  do.  It  was  not 
aware  of  any  authority  to  show  that  the  commissioners 
"  were  contraband  of  war ;  and  in-  any  event  it  was  not  a 
question  to  be  adjudicated  on  by  a  naval  officer  .and  four 
boats'  crews.  The  legal  course  would*  have  been  to  take  the 
ship  itself  into  port,  and  to  ask  for  her  condemnation,  or 
for  the  condemnation  of  the  passengers,  in  a  Court  of- 
Admiralty." 

Under  date  of  November  30,  Earl  Russell  directed  the 
Lords  Commissioners  of  the  Admiralty  to  instruct  Vice- 
Admiral  Sir  A.  Milne  to  communicate  fully  with  Lord 
Lyons,  British  Minister  at  Washington.  He  speaks  of  the  . 
"  act  of  wanton  violence  and  outrage,"  and  says  the  com 
mander  should  "  look  to  the  safety  of  Her  Majesty's  pos 
sessions  in  North  America,"  and  "  not  to  place*  his  ships  in 
positions  where  they  may  be  surprised  or  commande'd  by 
batteries  on  land  of  a  superior  force."  '  Arrangements  for 
increasing  the  military  force  in  Canada  were  at  once  made. 
Twenty  thousand  pfcked  troops,  the  flower  of  the  British 
army,  were  mustered  and  passed  in  review, 'for  embarkation* 
via  Halifax.  'The  large  ship  Melbourne  was  being*  loaded  at 
Woolwich  with  Armstrong  guns,  some  eighty  thousand 
Enfield  rifles,  a  large  amount  of  ammunition,  and  other  war 
materials.  Greater  activity '  could  not  have  been  displayed 
had  war  already  been  declared. '  Neither  night  nor  Sunday 
was  allowed  to  suspend  the  work  *of  preparation  at  Wool 
wich. 

A  well-informed  correspondent  of 'the  New  York  Com 
mercial  Advertiser  wrote  from  Paris,  December  6 :  "  The 
sudden  despatch  of  arms  and  men  to  Halifax,  the  outfit  of 
numerous  heavy  ships  of  war,  the  violent  language  of  the 


228  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

British  press,  and  concurrence  of  the  French  press,  are 
events  out  of  proportion  to  the  nominal  cause  of  them,  and 
indicate  a  secret  design  and  foregone  conclusion."  He  thinks 
the  British  Government  from  the  first  "  was  disposed  to  aid 
the  rebellion  for  the  purpose  of  dissolving  the  Union."  He 
advises  that  our  Government  accept  at  once  the  objection  to 
form  taken  by  the  British  Government,  and  release  Mason 
and  Slidell,  thus  depriving  that  Government  of  the  pretext 
on  which  it  rests. 

November  30,  1861,  which  seems  to  have  been  fraught 
with  many  important  communications  concerning  this  affair, 
Secretary  Seward  took  the  precaution  to  write  to  Mr.  Charles 
Francis  Adams,  our  minister  at  London,  a  confidential  letter, 
with  permission  to  read  it  to  Lord  Palmerston,  "  if  deemed 
expedient,"  in  which  letter,  referring  to  the  matter,  he 
said :  "  It  is  proper  that  you  should  know  one  fact  in  the 
case  without  indicating  that  we  attach  importance  to  it, — 
namely,  that  in  the  capture  of  Messrs.  Mason  and  Slidell 
on  board  the  British  vessel,  Captain  Wilkes  having  acted 
without  any  instructions  from  the  Government,  the  subject 
is,  therefore,  free  from  the  embarrassment  which  might 
have  resulted  if  the  act  had  been  specially  directed  by  us. 
I  trust  that  the  British  Government  will  consider  the  sub 
ject  in  a  friendly  temper,  and  it  may  expect  the  best  dispo 
sition  on  the  part  of  this  Government." 

Earl  Russell  was  prompt  to  communicate  with  Lord  Lyons 
on  this  important  subject.  His  letter  to  him  bears  date, 
also,  November  30,  and  after  reciting  the  circumstances  of 
the  capture  as  reported  to  him,  he  says :  "  It  thus  appears 
that  certain  individuals  have  been  taken  from  on  board  a 
British  vessel,  the  ship  of  a  neutral  power,  while  such  vessel 
was  pursuing  a  lawful  and  innocent  voyage — an  act  of  vio 
lence  which  was  an  affront  to  the  British  flag  and  a  vio 
lation  of  international  law.  Her  Majesty's  Government, 
bearing  in  mind  the  friendly  relations  which  have  long 
subsisted  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  are 


THE  TRENT  AFFAIR.  229 

willing  to  believe  that  the  United  States  naval  officer  who 
committed  the  aggression  was  not  acting  in  compliance  with 
any  authority  from  his  Government,  or  that,  if  he  conceived 
himself  to  be  authorized,  he  greatly  misunderstood  the 
instructions  which  he  had  received.  For  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  must  be  fully  aware  that  the  British 
Government  could  not  allow  such  an  affront  to  the  national 
honor  to  pass  without  full  reparation,  and  Her  Majesty's 
Government  are  unwilling  to  believe  that  it  could  be  the 
deliberate  intention  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
unnecessarily  to  force  into  discussion  between  the  two  gov 
ernments  a  question  of  so  grave  a  character,  and  with 
regard  to  which  the  whole  British  nation  would  be  sure  to 
entertain  such  unanimity  of  feeling. 

"Her  Majesty's  Government,  therefore,  trust  that,  when 
this  matter  shall  have  been  brought  under  consideration  of 
the  Government  of  the  United  States,  that  Government 
will,  of  their  own  accord,  offer  to  the  British  Government 
such  redress  as  alone  could  satisfy  the  British  nation, — 
namely,  the  liberation  of  the  four  gentlemen  and  their  de 
livery  to  your  Lordship,  in  order  that  they  may  again  be 
placed  under  British  protection,  and  a  suitable  apology  for 
the  aggression  which  has  been  committed.  Should  these 
terms  not  be  offered  by  Mr.  Seward,  you  will  propose  them 
to  him." 

Bearing  upon  this  highly  important  letter  of  Earl  Russell, 
we  find  in  Martin's  "  Life  of  the  Prince  Consort"  a  signifi 
cant  and  interesting  private  history,  showing  that  the  Queen 
was  not  satisfied  with  the  draft  submitted  for  her  approval, 
and  that  it  was,  at  her  suggestion,  divested  of  its  harsher 
features,  and  very  much  softened  in  other  respects,  to  guard 
against  giving  offence  to  our  Government.  The  draft  was 
returned  with  a  memorandum  drawn  by  the  Prince  Consort 
and  corrected  with  the  Queen's  own  hand,  indicating  the 
changes  she  would  have  made.  The  letter,  as  sent,  shows 
that  her  recommendation  was  followed  in  every  particular. 


230  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

Thus  it  is  more  than  probable  that  her  wisdom  and  good 
will  towards  the  United  States  saved  the  two  countries 
from  a  state  of  open  hostilities,  if  not  actual  war.  It  is 
well  known  that  the  Prince  Consort  was  in  accord  with 
her,  and  it  is  sad  to  think  that  the  memorandum  referred 
to  was  the  last  political  writing  from  his  pen.  He  was 
then  seriously  indisposed,  and  when  he  handed  the  paper 
to  the  Queen,  u  he  told  her  that  he  could  scarcely  hold  the 
pen  while  writing  it."  He  died  on  the  14th  of  December, 
1861. 

At  a  public  dinner  given  to  Commander  Williams  in 
London,  12th  December,  he  made  what  appears  to  have 
been  not  inaptly  characterized  as  "  a  braggadocio  speech," 
in  which  he  gave  his  account  of  the  action  of  himself, 
Lieutenant  Fairfax,  and  others  on  board  the  Trent.  He 
said  he  and  Lieutenant  Fairfax  asked  each  other's  pardon 
for  anything  which  might  have  been  said  or  done  offensive 
on  either  side,  so  far  as  they  themselves  were  concerned. 
He  declared  that  one  of  Mr.  SlidelPs  daughters  branded 
an  officer  of  the  San  Jacinto  "  to  his  face  with  his  infamy, 
having  been  her  father's  guest  not  ten  days  before."  He 
likewise  averred,  with  an  appeal  to  Heaven,  that  "  the  ma 
rines  made  a  rush  towards  Miss  Slidell  with  fixed  bayonets." 
He  said,  "  she  did  strike  Mr.  Fairfax,  but  not  with  the  vul 
garity  of  gesture  attributed  to  her.  Miss  Slidell  [he  con 
tinues]  was  in  the  cabin  with  her  arms  encircling  his  neck, 
and  she  wished  to  be  taken  to  prison  with  her  father.  Mr. 
Fairfax  attempted  to  get  into  the  cabin — I  do  not  say 
forcibly,  for  I  do  not  say  a  word  against  Mr.  Fairfax  so  far 
as  his  manner  is  concerned — he  attempted  to  get  her  away 
by  inducements.  In  her  agony,  then,  she  did  strike  him 
in  the  face  three  times."  He  said  that  "  when  the  marines 
made  a  rush  for  Miss  Slidell,  she  screamed,  for  her  father 
snatched  himself  away  from  her  to  break  the  window  of 
his  cabin,  through  which  he  thrust  his  body  out.  But  the 
hole  was  so  small  that  I  hardly  thought  it  would  admit  the 


THE  TRENT  AFFAIR.  231 

circumference  of  his  waist.  It  was  then  the  lady  screamed. 
When  the  marines  rushed  on  with  the  point  of  the  bayonet, 
I  had  just  time  to  put  my  body  between  their  bayonets  and 

Miss  Slidell,  and  I  said  to  them,  '  Back,  you cowardly 

poltroons.' ' 

The  excitement  in  England,  instead  of  abating,  continued 
to  increase,  although  there  was  a  conservative  undercurrent 
there  not  unfavorable  to  the  United  States.  For  instance, 
Mr.  John  Bright  counselled  moderation,  and  the  Sheffield 
Foreign  Affairs  Committee  petitioned  the  Queen  to  punish 
Captain  Moir  and  Commander  Williams  of  the  Trent  for 
disobeying  her  proclamation  of  13th  of  May,  by  carrying 
"  officers"  of  the  Confederate  States  and  their  "  despatches." 

The  New  York  Tribune  of  3d  December  said :  "  England 
is  almost  beside  herself,  is  the  tenor  of  the  latest  arid  most 
trustworthy  private  letters.  They  say  that  passion  has 
swept  away  reason  in  a  manner  to  an  extent  unknown 
since  1831,  and  that  the  national  sympathy  with  the  South 
developed  by  recent  events  is  startling."  Some  now  thought 
the  President  might  propose  to  submit  the  matter  to  arbi 
tration  ;  but  the  New  York  Journal  of  Commerce  suggested 
that,  "  if  the  British  Government  wanted  only  an  adjudica 
tion  by  a  Court  of  Admiralty,  they  could  be  easily  accom 
modated  by  a  return  of  the  prisoners  on  board  of  the  Trent 
at  the  point  of  capture,  and  then  Captain  Wilkes  could  fire 
a  gun  across  her  bow  and  bring  her  into  port  according  to 
law." 

There  appeared  to  be  no  thought  on  the  part  of  the 
people  or  press  of  the  United  States  that  the  prisoners 
would  be  given  up.  Secretary  Welles,  in  his  annual  report, 
had  referred  to  "  the  prompt  and  decisive  action  of  Captain 
Wilkes,"  as  having  "  merited  and  received  the  emphatic  ap 
probation  of  the  Department;"  and  a  resolution  of  thanks 
to  him  had  been  passed  by  the  House  of  Representatives 
immediately  on  coming  together.  Nevertheless,  near  the 
close  of  December,  to  the  amazement  of  many,  it  began 


232  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

to  be  whispered  about  that  our  Government,  considering 
discretion  the  better  part  of  valor,  had  concluded  to  yield 
to  the  demands  of  Great  Britain.  The  New  York  Herald, 
referring  to  this  "silly  rumor,"  said  there  "was  not  the 
slightest  truth  in  the  report." 

But  now  came  the  unexpected  denouement.  Having 
taken  several  days  to  digest  Earl  Russell's  despatch,  a  copy 
of  which  had  been  left  with  him  by  Lord  Lyons,  Mr.  Sew- 
ard  proceeded,  December  26,  to  reply  to  it.  He  commenced 
by  reciting  its  principal  points,  and,  saying  it  had  been  sub 
mitted  to  the  President,  added :  "  The  British  Government 
lias  rightly  conjectured,  what  is  my  duty  now  to  state,  that 
Captain  Wilkes  acted  upon  his  own  suggestions  of  duty 
without  any  direction  or  instruction,  or  even  foreknowl 
edge  of  it  on  the  part  of  the  Government."  He  corrects 
some  of  Earl  Russell's  statements  to  the  effect  that  the 
round  shot  was  fired  in  a  direction  obviously  so  divergent 
from  the  course  of  the  Trent  as  to  be  "  quite  as  harmless  as 
a  blank  shot,  while  it  should  be  regarded  as  a  signal."  So, 
also,  we  learn  that  the  Trent  was  not  approaching  the  San 
Jacinto  slowly  when  the  shell  was  fired  across  her  bow,  but, 
"  on  the  contrary,  the  Trent  was,  or  seemed  to  be,  moving 
under  a  full  head  of  steam,  as  if  with  a  purpose  to  pass  the 
San  Jacinto"  Also,  that  Lieutenant  Fairfax  "  did  not  board 
the  Trent  '  with  a  large  armed  guard/  but  left  the  marines 
in  his  boat  when  he  entered  the  Trent  f  that  "the  captain 
of  the  Trent  was  not  at  any  time  or  in  any  way  to  go  on 
board  the  San  Jacinto"  as  Earl  Russell  had  stated.  Mr. 
Seward  described  the  character  of  the  prisoners,  saying  their 
despatches  were  carried  to  emissaries  of  the  rebel  govern 
ment  in  England.  He  said,  "  The  question  before  us  is, 
whether  this  proceeding  was  authorized  and  conducted 
according  to  the  law  of  nations.  It  involves  the  following 
inquiries : 

"  1st.  Were  the  persons  named  and  their  supposed  de 
spatches  contraband  of  war  ? 


THE  TRENT  AFFAIK.  233 

"  2d.  Might  Captain  Wilkes  lawfully  stop  and  search  the 
Trent  for  these  contraband  persons  and  despatches  ? 

"  3d.  Did  he  exercise  that  right  in  a  lawful  and  proper 
manner  ? 

"  4th.  Having  found  the  contraband  persons  on  board  and 
in  presumed  possession  of  the  contraband  despatches,  had 
he  a  right  to  capture  the  persons  ? 

"  5th.  Did  he  exercise  that  right  of  capture  in  the  man 
ner  allowed  and  recognized  by  the  law  of  nations  ? 

"  If  all  these  inquiries  shall  be  resolved  in  the  affirma 
tive,  the  British  Government  will  have  no  claim  to  repara 
tion." 

Addressing  himself  to  these  inquiries,  he  disposes  of  the 
first  four  in  the  affirmative.  Taking  up  the  fifth,  he  says : 
"It  is  just  here  that  the  difficulties  of  the  case  begin.  In 
the  present  case,  Captain  Wilkes,  after  capturing  the  con 
traband  persons  and  making  prize  of  the  Trent  in  what 
seems  to  us  a  perfectly  lawful  manner,  instead  of  sending 
her  into  port,  released  her  from  capture,  and  permitted  her 
to  proceed  with  her  whole  cargo  upon  her  voyage." 

Captain  Wilkes  (quoted  by  Mr.  Seward)  says  he  "  forbore 
to  seize  her  (the  Trent)  in  consequence  of  his  being  reduced 
in  officers  and  crew,  and  the  derangement  it  would  cause 
innocent  persons"  on  board.  These  reasons,  Mr.  Seward 
declared,  were  satisfactory  to  the  Government,  so  far  as  Cap 
tain  Wilkes  was  concerned.  Finally,  Mr.  Seward  rested  on 
the  old  American  rule  that  in  case  of  capture  from  search, 
the  question  must  "  be  carried  before  a  legal  tribunal,  where 
a  regular  trial  may  be  had,  and  where  the  captor  himself  is 
liable  to  damage  for  an  abuse  of  his  power."  "  If  I  decide 
this  case,"  continued  Mr.  Seward,  "  in  favor  of  my  own 
Government,  I  must  disavow  its  most  cherished  principles 
and  reverse  and  forever  abandon  its  essential  policy.  The 
country  cannot  aiford  the  sacrifice.  If  I  maintain  those 
principles  and  adhere  to  that  policy,  I  must  surrender  the 
case  itself.  It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  this  Government 


234  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

would  not  deny  the  justice  of  the  claim  presented  to  us  in 
this  respect  upon  its  merits.  We  are  asked  to  do  to  the 
British  nation  just  what  we  have  always  insisted  all  nations 
ought  to  do  to  us.  ...  I  prefer  to  express  my  satisfaction 
that, -by  the  adjustment  of  the  present  case  upon  principles 
confessedly  American,  and  yet,  as  I  trust,  mutually  satisfac 
tory  to  both  of  the  nations  concerned,  a  question  is  finally 
and  rightly  settled  between  them,  which  heretofore  ex 
hausted  not  only  all  forms  of  peaceful  discussion,  but  also 
the  arbitrament  of  war  itself;  for  more  than  half  a  century 
alienated  the  two  countries  from  each  other,  and  perplexed 
with  fears  and  apprehensions  all  other  nations.  The  four 
persons  in  question  are  now  held  in  military  custody  at  Fort 
Warren,  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts.  They  will  be  cheer 
fully  liberated.  Your  Lordship  will  please  indicate  a  time 
and  place  for  receiving  them." 

Lord  Lyons  replied  to  Mr.  Seward  on  the  27th  December, 
saying  he  would,  without  delay,  send  a  copy  of  his  "  im 
portant  communication"  to  Earl  Russell,  and  would  confer 
with  him  (Mr.  Seward)  on  the  arrangements  for  the  de 
livery  of  the  "  four  gentlemen"  to  him  (Lord  Lyons).  The 
rest  is  soon  told.  On  December  30,  Lord  Lyons  wrote  to 
Commander  Hewett  of  the  Rinaldo,  an  English  sloop-of- 
war,  to  proceed  with  his  vessel  to  Provincetown,  Massachu 
setts,  and  receive  the  released  prisoners,  adding :  "  It  is 
hardly  necessary  that  I  should  remind  you  that  these  gen 
tlemen  have  no  official  character.  It  will  be  right  for  you 
to  receive  them  with  all  courtesy  and  respect  as  gentlemen 
of  distinction ;  but  it  would  be  improper  to  pay  them  any 
of  those  honors  which  are  paid  to  official  persons;"  and 
their  transfer  should  be  "  effected  unostentatiously." 

Being  conveyed  from  Fort  "Warren  to  Provincetown  by 
the  tugboat  Starlight,  the  "  four  gentlemen,"  with  their  lug 
gage,  were  quietly  transferred  to  the  Hinaldo  on  the  evening 
of  January  1, 1862,  remarking  that  their  "  only  wish  was  to 
proceed  to  Europe ;"  and  that  vessel  at  once  set  sail  for  St. 


THE  TRENT  AFFAIR.  235 

Thomas,  whence  these  emissaries  of  treason  pursued  their 
weary  way  to  their  original  respective  destinations,  cowed 
and  humiliated  in  no  slight  degree.  Doubtless  they  knew 
that  only  a  cool  reception  awaited  them. 

The  London  Star  said  :  "  When  Mason  and  Slidell  have 
been  surrendered  to  us,  it  will  surely  be  time  to  declare  in 
what  capacity  we,  as  a  nation,  are  to  receive  them — whether 
as  the  envoys  of  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis,  or  as  inoffensive  vis 
itors  to  a  country  where  the  rebel  slave-owner  and  fugitive 
negro  are  welcome  alike  to  the  protection  of  the  law."  The 
London  Times  exulted  over  what  it  called  "  a  great  victory," 
but  said  :  "  Mason  and  Slidell  are  about  the  most  worthless 
booty  it  would  be  possible  to  exact  from  the  jaws  of  the 
American  lion.  The  four  American  gentlemen  who  have 
got  us  into  our  late  trouble,  and  cost  us  probably  a  million 
apiece,  will  soon  be  in  one  of  our  ports.  What  they  and 
their  secretaries  are  to  do  here  passes  our  conjecture.  They 
are  personally  nothing  to  us." 

!N"ot  the  least  wonderful  thing  in  this  extraordinary  affair 
was  the  sudden  acquiescence  in  and  approbation  of  the 
act  of  our  Government  in  surrendering  the  "  Confederate 
ambassadors,"  on  the  part  of  the  people  and  press  of  the 
United  States,  as  soon  as  Mr.  Seward's  masterly  state 
paper  was  published.  Nor  were  our  people  alone  in  their 
satisfaction  at  so  happy  a  settlement  of  a  vexed  question 
which  alarmed  and  threatened  to  disturb  all  the  maritime 
nations  of  the  world. 


236  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

CHAPTER    II. 

PRESIDENT  LINCOLN  AT  GETTYSBURG. 

Conflicting  Accounts  of  his  Speech  at  the  Cemetery  Dedication — Ex- 
Governor  Curtin's  Statement  to  the  Writer — A  Wonderful  Effort — 
Mr.  Everett's  Peroration — The  Dirge  by  B.  B.  French. 

THERE  have  been  so  many  conflicting  statements  about 
President  Lincoln's  Gettysburg  speech  that  I  have  taken 
pains  to  bring  some  of  them  together  with  a  view  to  see 
if  there  is  any  way  to  get  at  the  truth.  In  the  first  place, 
as  to  the  manner  of  its  writing  and  delivery. 

The  reporter  of  the  New  York  Times,  as  quoted  by  the 
Springfield  Republican,  says  Mr.  Lincoln  spoke  from  manu 
script,  referring  to  it  as  often  as  once  for  each  sentence; 
that  he  spoke  in  a  loud  voice  and  was  loudly  applauded. 
He  says  that  when  the  President  had  finished,  it  is  related 
that  Mr.  Everett,  the  orator  of  the  day,  who  had  spoken 
before  him,  grasped  Mr.  Lincoln's  hand  warmly  and  said, 
in  substance,  "  What  I  have  said  here  will  be  forgotten,  but 
your  words  will  live." 

Mr.  John  Russell  Young,  who,  as  reporter  for  the  Phila 
delphia  Press,  was  also  present,  states  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
"  took  the  single  sheet  of  foolscap,  held  it  almost  to  his 
nose,  and,  in  his  high  tenor  voice,  without  the  least  attempt 
for  effect,  delivered  that  most  extraordinary  address.  There 
were  four  or  five  thousand  people  present.  Very  few  heard 
what  Mr.  Lincoln  said,  and  it  is  a  curious  thing  that  his 
remarkable  words  should  have  made  no  particular  impres 
sion  at  the  time." 

Let  us  next  hear  what  Colonel  Ward  H.  Lamon,  one  of 
Mr.  Lincoln's  most  intimate  associates  before  as  well  as 
after  his  election,  says,  in  the  Philadelphia  Times,  October 
4,  1887: 


PRESIDENT  LINCOLN  AT  GETTYSBURG.  237 

"A  day  or  two  before  the  dedication,  Mr.  Lincoln  told  me  he  would 
be  expected  to  make  a  speech  on  the  occasion ;  that  he  was  extremely 
busy,  with  no  time  for  preparation,  and  that  he  greatly  feared  he  would 
not  be  able  to  acquit  himself  with  credit,  much  less  to  fill  the  measure 
of  public  expectation.  From  his  hat  (the  usual  receptacle  of  his  private 
notes  and  memoranda)  he  drew  a  page  of  foolscap,  closely  written,  which 
he  read  to  me,  first  remarking  that  it  was  a  memorandum  of  what  he 
intended  to  say.  It  proved  to  be  in  substance,  and,  I  think,  in  hcec 
verba,  what  was  printed  as  his  Gettysburg  speech.  After  its  delivery, 
he  expressed  deep  regret  that  he  had  not  prepared  it  with  greater  care. 
He  said  to  me  on  the  stand,  immediately  after  concluding  the  speech, 
'  Lamon,  that  speech  won't  scour.  It  is  a  flat  failure,  and  the  people  are 
disappointed.'  .  .  .  On  the  platform  from  which  Mr.  Lincoln  made  his 
address,  and  only  a  moment  after  its  conclusion,  Mr.  Seward  turned  to 
Mr.  Everett  and  asked  him  wrhat  he  thought  of  the  President's  speech. 
Mr.  Everett  replied,  '  It  was  not  what  I  expected  from  him :  I  am  disap 
pointed.'  In  his  turn,  Mr.  Everett  asked,  '  What  do  you  think  of  it, 
Mr.  Seward  ?'  The  response  was :  '  He  has  made  a  failure,  and  I  am 
sorry  for  it.  His  speech  is  not  equal  to  him.'  Mr.  Seward  then  turned 
to  me  and  asked,  '  Mr.  Marshal,  what  do  you  think  of  it  ?'  I  answered, 
'  I  am  sorry  to  say  it  does  not  impress  me  as  one  of  his  great  speeches.' 
In  the  face  of  these  facts  it  has  been  repeatedly  published  that  this 
speech  was  received  with  great  eclat  by  the  audience ;  that,  amid  the 
tears,  sobs,  and  cheers  it  produced  in  the  excited  throng,  the  orator  of 
the  day,  Mr.  Everett,  turned  impulsively  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  grasped  his 
hand,  and  exclaimed,  '  I  congratulate  you  on  your  success !'  adding,  in 
a  transport  of  heated  enthusiasm,  '  Ah,  Mr.  President,  how  gladly  would 
I  give  all  my  hundred  pages  to  be  the  author  of  your  twenty  lines  !'  All 
this  unworthy  gush,  it  is  needless  to  say,  is  purely  apocryphal.  Nothing 
of  the  kind  occurred.  ...  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Mr.  Lincoln's  great 
Gettysburg  speech  fell  on  the  vast  audience  like  a  wet  blanket.  ...  It 
was  then  [after  Mr.  Lincoln's  death]  that  we  began  to  realize  that  it  was 
indeed  a  masterpiece,  and  it  then  dawned  upon  many  minds  that  we  had 
entertained  an  angel  unawares,  who  had  left  us  unappreciated," 

Now  listen  to  what  Andrew  G-.  Curtin,  the  distinguished 
war  Governor  and  statesman  of  Pennsylvania,  says.  Re 
membering  to  have  heard  him  relate  the  story  of  the 
writing  and  delivery  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  extraordinary  ad 
dress,  which  now  "  belongs  to  the  classics  of  literature" — 
it  was  in  May,  1885,  while  riding  with  him  and  others  over 
the  battle-field,  and  when  he  pointed  out  to  me  the  house 


238  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

of  Mr.  Willis,  in  the  village,  where,  he  says,  he  saw  Mr. 
Lincoln  en^ao;ed  in  writing  it — I  called  on  him  at  his  hotel 

O      O  O 

in  this  city  a  few  days  ago,  and,  with  pencil  in  hand  to 
make  sure  of  his  exact  words,  asked  him  to  repeat  the 
account.  He  said: 

"  I  saw  Mr.  Lincoln  writing  his  address  in  Mr.  (now  Judge)  Willis's 
house,  on  a  long  yellow  envelope.  He  may  have  written  some  of  it 
before.  He  said,  '  I  will  go  and  show  it  to  Seward/  who  stopped  at 
another  house,  which  he  did,  and  then  returned  and  copied  his  speech 
on  a  foolscap  sheet.  The  people  outside  were  calling  now  on  Mr.  Lincoln 
for  a  speech,  and  he  got  me  to  go  and  speak  for  him.  Mr.  Lincoln  rode  on 
horseback  to  the  field,  where  a  temporary  stand  had  been  erected.  After 
the  oration  of  Mr.  Everett  and  the  singing  of  a  dirge  by  the  Baltimore 
Glee  Club,  Mr.  Lincoln  proceeded  to  speak.  He  rose  and  presented  him 
self  in  a  most  dignified  manner,  becoming  a  President  of  the  United 
States.  He  pronounced  that  speech  in  a  voice  that  all  the  multitude 
heard.  The  crowd  was  hushed  into  silence  because  the  President  stood 
before  them.  But  at  intervals  there  were  roars  of  applause.  My  God ! 
it  was  so  impressive  !  It  was  the  common  remark  of  everybody.  Such  a 
speech,  as  they  said  it  was  !  Everett  and  all  went  and  congratulated  the 
President,  shaking  him  by  the  hand." 

Governor  Curtin,  on  the  former  as  well  as  on  the  present 
occasion,  expressed  extreme  regret  that  he  had  not  secured 
that  envelope  on  which  he  most  positively  declares  he  saw 
Mr.  Lincoln  writing  his  address,  as  above  described. 

Finally,  I  am  happy  to  be  able  to  add  one  more  item, 
not  less  interesting,  touching  this  controverted  subject. 
I  have  the  statement  from  General  Joseph  Holt  direct, 
that  a  day  or  two  after  Mr.  Lincoln's  return  from  Gettys 
burg,  while  signing  some  papers  which  he  (General  H.), 
as  Judge-Advocate-General,  had  brought  for  his  signa 
ture,  the  President  looked  up  with  lively  satisfaction  and 
remarked,  "  I  have  just  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Ever 
ett,  in  which  he  says  that  I  had  said  more  in  my  little 
speech  than  he  had  said  in  his  whole  oration." 

Having  presented  the  above  rather  conflicting  testimony, 
I  believe  I  will  submit  the  case  "  to  the  jury" — my  readers — 


PRESIDENT  LINCOLN  AT  GETTYSBURG.  239 

without  either  "  summing  up"  or  "  argument,"  premising, 
however,  that  I  am  inclined  to  stand  by  the  grand  old  war 
Governor.  Besides  I  want  the  room  for  further  illustration 
of  this  little  historical  sketch. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  know  that  among  the  distin 
guished  persons  on  the  platform  at  the  dedication  were, 
according  to  the  Philadelphia  Press,  the  following  :  Gov 
ernor  Bradford,  of  Maryland;  Governor  Curtin,  of  Penn 
sylvania;  Governor  Morton,  of  Indiana;  Governor  Sey 
mour,  of  New  York ;  Governor  Parker,  of  New  Jersey ; 
Governor  Todd,  of  Ohio ;  ex-Governor  Dennison,  of  Ohio ; 
John  Brough,  Governor-elect  of  Ohio ;  Major-Generals 
Schenck,  Stahl,  Doubleday,  and  Couch  ;  Brigadier- General 
Gibbon  and  Provost-Marshal-General  Fry.  The  reporter 
must  have  also  seen  among  them  Secretary  Seward  and 
Marshal  Lamon,  if  not  others,  equally  distinguished,  in 
cluding  the  late  Major  Benjamin  B.  French,  author  of  the 
dirge  which  follows. 

The  ceremonies  wrere  opened  with  prayer  by  Rev.  Thomas 
H.  Stockton,  Chaplain  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  A 
correspondent,  "  E>.,"  of  the  Philadelphia  Press,  states  that 
the  reverend  gentleman  "  concluded  with  the  Lord's  prayer, 
and  during  the  delivery  of  these  eloquent  words  there  was 
scarcely  a  dry  eye  in  all  that  vast  assemblage."  The  popu 
lace,  "  gathered  within  a  circle  of  great  extent  around  the 
stand,  were  so  quiet  and  attentive"  (Mr.  Young  says)  "  that 
every  word  uttered  by  the  orator  of  the  day  (Edward  Ever 
ett)  must  have  been  heard  by  them  all." 

Here  is  Mr.  Everett's  peroration : 

"  *  The  whole  earth/  said  Pericles,  as  he  stood  over  the  remains  of  his 
fellow-citizens  who  had  fallen  in  the  first  year  of  the  Peloponnesian  war, 
— '  the  whole  earth  is  the  sepulchre  of  illustrious  men.'  All  time,  he 
might  have  added,  is  the  millennium  of  their  glory.  Surely  I  would  do 
no  injustice  to  the  other  noble  achievements  of  the  war,  which  have 
reflected  such  honor  on  both  arms  of  the  service,  and  have  entitled  the 
armies  and  the  navy  of  the  United  States — their  officers  and  men — to 


240  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

the  warmest  thanks  and  the  richest  rewards  which  a  grateful  people  can 
pay.  But  they,  I  am  sure,  will  join  us  in  saying,  as  we  bid  farewell  to  the 
dust  of  these  martyr  heroes,  that  wheresoever  throughout  the  civilized 
world  the  accounts  of  this  great  warfare  are  read,  and  down  to  the  latest 
period  of  recorded  time,  in  the  glorious  annals  of  our  common  country, 
there  will  be  no  brighter  page  than  that  which  relates  THE  BATTLE  OF 
GETTYSBURG." 

THE  DIRGE. 

"  'Tis  holy  ground — 
This  spot  where,  in  their  graves, 
We  place  our  country's  braves 
Who  fell  in  Freedom's  holy  cause 
Fighting  for  Liberties  and  Laws — 
Let  tears  abound. 

"  Here  let  them  rest — 
And  summer's  heat  and  winter's  cold 
Shall  glow  and  freeze  above  this  mould — 
A  thousand  years  shall  pass  away — 
A  nation  still  shall  mourn  this  day, 
Which  now  is  blest. 

"  Here  where  they  fell, 
Oft  shall  the  widow's  tear  be  shed, 
Oft  shall  fond  parents  mourn  their  dead — 
The  orphan  here  shall  kneel  and  weep, 
And  maidens,  where  their  lovers  sleep, 
Their  woes  shall  tell. 

"  Great  God  in  heaven  ! 
Shall  all  this  sacred  blood  be  shed — 
Shall  we  thus  mourn  our  glorious  dead, 
Or  shall  the  end  be  wrath  and  woe, 
The  knell  of  Freedom's  overthrow — 
A  country  riven  ? 

"  It  will  not  be. 

We  trust,  0  God !  Thy  gracious  power 
To  aid  us  in  our  darkest  hour. 
This  be  our  prayer,  '  0  Father,  save 
A  people's  Freedom  from  the  grave — 
All  praise  to  Thee !'  " 


PRESIDENT  LINCOLN  AND  GENERAL  McCLELLAN.  241 

PRESIDENT   LINCOLN'S  ADDRESS. 

"  Fourscore  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought  forth  on  this  con 
tinent  a  new  nation,  conceived  in  liberty  and  dedicated  to  the  proposition 
that  all  men  are  created  equal. 

"  Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil  war,  testing  whether  that  nation, 
or  any  nation  so  conceived  and  so  dedicated,  can  long  endure.  We  are 
met  on  a  great  battle-field  of  that  war.  We  have  come  to  dedicate  a 
portion  of  that  field  as  a  final  resting-place  for  those  who  here  gave  their 
lives  that  that  nation  might  live.  It  is  altogether  fitting  and  proper  that 
we  should  do  this. 

"  But,  in  a  larger  sense,  we  cannot  dedicate — we  cannot  consecrate — we 
cannot  hallow  this  ground.  The  brave  men,  living  and  dead,  who  strug 
gled  here,  have  consecrated  it  far  above  our  poor  power  to  add  or  detract. 
The  world  will  little  note  nor  long  remember  what  we  may  say  here,  but 
it  can  never  forget  what  they  did  here.  It  is  for  us,  the  living,  rather,  to 
be  dedicated  here  to  the  unfinished  work  which  they  who  fought  here 
have  thus  far  so  nobly  advanced.  It  is  rather  for  us  to  be  here  dedicated 
to  the  great  task  remaining  before  us ;  that  from  these  honored  dead  we 
take  increased  devotion  to  that  cause  for  which  they  gave  the  last  full 
measure  of  devotion ;  that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  these  dead  shall 
not  have  died  in  vain ;  that  this  nation,  under  God,  shall  have  a  new 
birth  of  freedom  ;  and  that  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for 
the  people,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth." 

WASHINGTON,  February  17,  1888. 


CHAPTER    III. 

PRESIDENT   LINCOLN   AND   GENERAL   MCCLELLAN. 

The  President  visits  the  General — His  Accidental  Detention — Mr.  Lin 
coln  declares  he  would  not  consent  to  sign  the  Death- Warrant  of  a 
Soldier  for  failing  to  go  where  his  legs  refused  to  carry  him — Called 
these  "  Leg  Cases." 

HERE  is  a  little  historical  item  which,  as  far  as  it  goes, 
ought  to  be  known  in  explanation,  possibly,  of  what  has 
been  publicly  brought  against  General  George  B.  Me  del  - 
lan  as  an  unpardonable  act  of  rudeness,  not  to  say  insult 

16 


242  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

to  President  Lincoln.  This  act  was  the  keeping  President 
Lincoln  waiting  for  a  considerable  time  on  one  occasion 
when  he  called  on  McClellan  at  his  head-quarters.  Refer 
ring  to  this  a  few  days  ago,  in  conversation  with  General 
Henry  J.  Hunt,  chief  of  artillery  at  the  battle  of  Gettysburg, 
and  now  governor  of  the  Soldiers'  Home  near  Washington, 
I  inquired  if  he  thought  it  possible  that  the  story  could  be 
true.  Hesitating  a  moment,  in  evident  belief  of  its  falsity 
so  far  as  General  McClellan  was  concerned,  and  appearing 
never  to  have  heard  of  its  publicity,  he  answered,  "  Yes — 
with  a  reservation."  He  said  that  one  day  when  he  himself 
called  at  McClellan's  head-quarters  he  found  General  Barry 
there  in  a  great  rage  on  account  of  what  he  regarded  as  a 
gross  insult  to  President  Lincoln,  who  had  called  to  see  Gen 
eral  McClellan  and  had  been  kept  waiting  in  the  anteroom ; 
but  whether  through  the  fault  of  the  Irish  door-keeper  or 
the  neglect  of  the  general,  he  did  not  appear  to  know.  He 
had,  however,  observed  that  when  Mr.  Lincoln  passed  up 
stairs  the  door-keeper  or  orderly — whatever  his  appellation 
— gave  a  clownish  burst  of  expression,  as  if  in  derision  of 
the  President. 

How  can  the  exact  truth  ever  be  known  ?     One  thins;  is 

O 

certain,  instead  of  going  to  McClellan,  the  President  should 
have  sent  for  him  to  come  to  the  White  House  whenever 
he  wished  to  see  him ;  and  this,  I  presume,  was  his  usual 
custom. 

While  writing  of  President  Lincoln,  I  will  relate  another 
singular  incident  not  generally  known,  I  think,  and  which 
comes  to  me  on  equally  undoubted  authority  (Joseph  Holt, 
President  Lincoln's  Judge-Advocate-General).  At  the  be 
ginning  of  the  war,  oftener  probably  than  later  in  the  fear 
ful  struggle,  sometimes,  in  going  into  battle,  a  soldier  who 
had  "  never  smelt  gunpowder"  would  falter,  shrink  away, 
and  may  be  throw  down  his  arms,  utterly  unable,  from  cow 
ardice,  to  proceed,  thus  rendering  himself  liable  to  the  pen 
alty  of  death.  When  these  cases  came  before  President  Lin- 


A  EEMINISCENCE.  243 

coin  and  the  necessity  of  making  an  example  of  such  culprits 
was  pointed  out  to  him,  he  invariably  pleaded  off.  By  way 
of  convincing  him  not  only  of  the  imperative  necessity  of 
strictly  enforcing  the  law  as  a  restraining  influence  against 
cowardly  instincts  but  also  of  its  reasonableness  and  justice, 
it  was  urged  that,  the  soldier  seeing  before  him  two  dangers, 
— on  the  one  hand,  sure  death  if  he  acted  the  coward,  on 
the  other,  a  reasonable  chance  of  escape  if  he  pressed  for 
ward  in  battle, — he  would  naturally  choose  the  lesser  of  the 
two  and  thus  save  his  honor  at  least,  if  not  his  life.  But  it 
was  all  to  no  purpose,  Mr.  Lincoln  solemnly  declaring  that 
he  never  could'  consent  to  sign  the  death-warrant  of  a  sol 
dier  for  failing  to  go  where  his  legs  refused  to  carry  him ;  and 
he  never  did.  He  consigned  to  pigeon-holes  without  his 
signature  scores,  if  not  hundreds,  of  these  cases,  where  they 
now  lie  buried  at  the  "War  Department.  He  called  them 
"  Leg  Cases." 
WASHINGTON,  December  1,  1886. 


CHAPTER    IY. 

A   REMINISCENCE. 

Ex-President  Buchanan — His  Last  Interview  with  Colonel  Thomas  Hart 
Benton — Controversy  between  William  Carey  Jones  and  Francis  P. 
Blair,  Sr. — Interesting  Incidents  in  the  Life  of  Colonel  Benton — His 
Death  and  Funeral. 

IN  one  of  Ex-President  Buchanan's  letters  to  me,  dated 
at  Wheatland,  21st  April,  1866,  he  wrote  as  follows  : 

"  By-the-by,  I  wish  to  impose  upon  you  a  task  which  I  do  not  think 
will  be  uncongenial.  Old  Mr.  Blair  attempted  to  misrepresent  the  scene 
between  Colonel  Benton  and  myself  on  the  evening  preceding  his  death, 
which  was  as  kind  and  affectionate  on  his  part  as  if  he  had  been  my 
dear  brother.  His  noble  daughter,  who  was  alone  present,  voluntarily, 


244  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

and  without  my  previous  knowledge,  contradicted  him,  and  made  and 
published  a  true  statement  of  the  occurrence,  signed  by  her  husband, 
Governor  Jacob.  The  date  of  that  letter  is  at  Clifton  (Kentucky),  Au 
gust  2,  1858.  I  had  much  difficulty  in  finding  it,  but  at  last  obtained  it 
from  Governor  Jacob.  He  informs  me  there  was  a  pamphlet  published 
at  the  time  by  William  Carey  Jones,  the  son-in-law  of  Colonel  Benton, 
which  I  ought  to  have,  but  it  is  not  in  his  possession.  Now  I  have 
thought  that  this  might  be  procured  through  my  old  friend  Peter  Force. 
I  would  give  any  reasonable  price  for  it,  as  I  wish  to  leave  behind  me 
some  interesting  reminiscences." 

Sincerely  desirous  of  obliging  Mr.  Buchanan,  I  at  once 
endeavored  to  procure  the  pamphlet  referred  to,  calling  at 
all  our  book-stores  for  it,  as  well  as  upon  Mr.  Force,  who, 
though  then  a  very  old  man,  was  still  living  in  apparently 
good  health.  It  was  all  in  vain.  I  could  find  it  nowhere* 
Mr.  Force  told  me  it  might  be,  and  probably  was,  in  his 
library,  but  that  his  pamphlets  were  not  generally  classified 
or  arranged,  and  that  a  search  for  it  there  would  be  nearly 
hopeless.  I  was  obliged  to  give  it  up  for  the  time  being, 
intending,  however,  some  time  or  other  to  find  it  if  possible, 
and  I  have  at  length  succeeded,  it  having  recently  come  to 
light  among  the  books  and  pamphlets  of  the  late  Peter 
Force's  library  in  the  library  of  Congress.  It  bears  no 
title,  but  is  addressed  "  To  the  People  of  the  United  States." 
It  is  very  severe  on  Mr.  Blair,  Sr.,  and  refers  likewise  to 
Mr.  Francis  P.  Blair,  Jr.  The  controversy  arose  from  the 
appearance,  in  the  first  instance,  of  a  communication  at 
tributed  to  Mr.  Blair,  Sr.,  or  as  having  been  inspired  by  him, 
from  which  the  following  is  an  extract.  The  writer  pro 
fessed  to  give  an  account  of  an  interview  with  Colonel 
Benton  just  before  his  death,  saying  : 

"  The  inspiration  of  this  theme  (the  Compromise  of  1850)  fired  the 
languid  blood  and  reanimated  for  a  moment  the  failing  frame  of  the 
dying  patriot.  In  energetic  whispers  he  told  his  visitor  that  the  same 
men  who  had  sought  to  destroy  the  republic  in  1850  were  at  the  bottom 
of  this  accursed  Lecompton  business.  .  .  .  He  warmly  praised  the 
intrepid  and  incorruptible  Douglas  Democrats  who  had  resisted  the 
power  and  wiles  of  a  corrupt  and  deluded  administration." 


A  REMINISCENCE.  245 

Here  is  Mr.  Jones's  account  of  the  interview,  in  allusion 
to  said  communication : 

"  About  eighty  hours  before  the  death  of  Colonel  Benton,  F.  P.  Blair, 
Sr.,  of  Silver  Springs,  Md.,  entered  the  sick-room.  The  orders  of 
Colonel  Benton  were  that  no  visitors  should  be  admitted.  Mr.  Blair's 
long  intimacy  in  the  house  allowed  him  to  pass  the  hall-door,  and, 
when  he  had  ascended  the  second  story  and  his  voice  was  heard,  Colo 
nel  Benton  said,  '  Yes,  let  him  come  in  a  moment.'  Mr.  Blair,  when 
he  came  in,  saw  this :  Colonel  Benton  on  his  dying  bed ;  on  one  side 
of  it  his  eldest  daughter,  attending  to  the  wants  of  her  father,  and 
catching  the  faintest  word  from  his  lips ;  on  the  other  side  of  the  bed 
the  writer  of  this,  seated  at  a  small,  narrow  table  writing  at  the  dic 
tation  of  Colonel  Benton.  Mr.  Blair  remained  some  time.  Two  days 
after  there  was  published  in  the  New  York  Tribune  an  anonymous 
letter,  giving  a  daguerreotype,  as  it  were,  of  what  was  seen,  only  sub 
stituting  for  Mr.  Blair's  person  an  imaginary  person  called  a  friend 
from  Missouri,  and  mentioning  by  name  both  my  wife  and  myself. 
What  was  seen  being  thus  depicted,  the  narrative  went  on  to  falsify  and 
defame  what  was  said  by  the  dying  man.  A  month  afterward,  only  that 
such  a  defamation  should  not  go  into  record  history,  with  apparent 
assent  of  the  witnesses  vouched  to  it,  I  made  a  contradiction,  but  did 
not  mention  any  names." 

Touching  the  assertion  that  Colonel  Benton  employed 
opprobrious  terms  in  speaking  of  the  Lecompton  business, 
Mr.  Jones,  in  reply  to  Mr.  Blair,  said,  "  You  know  that 
Colonel  Benton  did  not  die  with  anything  accursed  or  de 
nunciatory  on  his  lips,  but  with  only  good  and  kind  words 
for  all  to  whom  or  of  whom  he  had  occasion  to  speak." 

Mr.  Jones  says  that  the  last  lines  intended  for  publica 
tion  in  his  "  Abridgment  of  the  Debates  of  Congress,"  that 
Colonel  Benton  wrote,  were  to  accompany  a  debate  in  the 
Senate  of  17th  of  June,  1850,  and  a  short,  energetic  speech 
by  Mr.  Webster,  from  which  the  following  is  an  extract : 
"  I  am  against  agitators,  North  and  South ;  I  am  against 
local  ideas,  North  and  South,  and  against  all  narrow  and 
local  contests.  I  am  an  American,  and  I  know  no  locality 
in  America ;  that  is  my  country" 

In  commenting  upon  this,  Colonel  Benton  observed  that 


246  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

"  It  is  impossible  to  read  the  speeches  of  this  session,  and 
hear,  as  it  were,  the  last  words  of  the  last  great  men  of  that 
wonderful  time,  without  having  the  feelings  profoundly 
moved  by  the  deep  danger  to  the  Union  which  stood  before 
them,  and  the  patriotic  attempts  they  made  to  avert  that 
danger.  This  brief  speech  of  Mr.  Webster  is  a  noble  illus 
tration  of  the  feelings  of  the  patriotic  sages  of  that  porten 
tous  day.  They  labored  to  save  their  country,  and  believed 
[that  they  had  done  it.]" 

Mr.  Jones  remarks  :  "  Colonel  Benton,  at  the  time  (April 
5)  that  he  wrote  this  note,  was  physically  very  feeble,  in 
bed,  and  suffering  acute  pain.  The  paper  that  he  wrote  on 
being  filled,  he  desired  me,  in  copying,  to  add  the  con 
cluding  words.  His  strength  failed  him  to  add  more  at 
the  moment,  and  he  continued  his  work  of  abridgment." 

On  the  6th  of  April  Colonel  Benton  dictated  to  Mr. 
Jones,  who  wrote  a  note  to  be  appended  to  a  debate  in  the 
Senate  of  July  22,  1850,  in  which  the  concluding  speech 
was  by  Mr.  Clay.  In  this  he  speaks  of  Mr.  Clay  as  "  the 
great  champion  of  the  measure  (the  Missouri  Compromise), 
which  he  adheres  to  as  the  crowning  principle  in  the  meas 
ures  of  1850,  and  renews  his  testimony  to  it  as  a  Southern 
measure  of  thirty  years'  duration." 

In  this  connection  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  intro 
duce  the  following  extract  from  a  patriotic  speech  made  by 
Colonel  Benton  himself  in  the  course  of  the  great  debate 
in  June,  1850  :  "  I  recognize  no  such  parties — no  two  halves 
in  the  Union.  I  know  no  North  and  I  know  no  South,  and 
I  repulse  and  repudiate  as  a  thing  to  be  forever  contemned 
this  first  attempt  to  establish  geographical  parties  in  this 
chamber  by  creating  a  committee  formed  on  that  prin 
ciple." 

I  cannot  avoid  observing  here,  by  way  of  parenthesis, 
how  different  might  have  been  the  condition  of  the  United 
States  to-day  had  the  patriotic  sentiments  and  advice  of 
these  great  statesmen — Webster,  Clay,  and  Benton — pre- 


A  REMINISCENCE.  247 

vailed  from  the  start.  I  am  not  too  young  to  remember 
well  when  it  was  the  common  sentiment,  and  no  offence  to 
express  the  opinion  anywhere  North  or  South,  that  negro 
slavery  was  an  evil  which  should  be  removed  as  soon  as  it 
could  be  done  reasonably  and  safely.  Virginia  was  moving 
in  important  measures  toward  gradual  emancipation,  and 
the  same  thing  was  taking  root  and  commanding  the  atten 
tion  of  the  better  classes  in  the  other  border  States,  when 
the  whole  South  was  aroused  by  the  aggressive  and  appar 
ently  unfriendly  action  of  the  original  Abolitionists,  one  of 
whose  principal  leaders  did  not  hesitate  to  proclaim,  "  The 
Union  is  a  lie ;  the  American  Union  is  an  imposture,  a  cove 
nant  with  death  and  an  agreement  with  hell.  ...  I  am  for 
its  overthrow."  This  note  of  warning  put  a  stop  at  once 
to  all  steps  looking  toward  gradual  emancipation,  and  the 
South  found  itself  powerless  to  act  except  on  the  defensive. 
(Understand,  these  interjected  remarks  relate  particularly 
to  times  and  action  long  prior  to  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise  or  the  formation  of  the  Free-soil  party.) 
Were  the  Abolitionists  right?  Who  knows  that,  instead 
of  thus  exciting  the  baser  passions,  had  brotherly  love  and 
kindness  been  allowed  full  sway,  the  abolishment  of  slavery 
might  not  have  been  accomplished  by  peaceful  means,  and 
our  civil  war,  with  all  its  attendant  and  consequent  destruc 
tion,  death,  and  woe  unparalleled,  averted  ?  With  a  great 
hearted  president  like  Abraham  Lincoln,  who  knows  that, 
with  the  ancient  harmony  between  the  North  and  South 
undisturbed,  the  peculiar  institution  might  not  have  been 
extinguished  in  the  same  manner  and  with  the  same  gen 
eral  satisfaction  that  it  was  terminated  in  the  District  of 
Columbia  ? 

These  questions  have  often  arisen  in  my  mind.  It  may 
be  unpopular,  but  is  it  a  crime  to  ask  them  ?  I  will  not 
pronounce  the  Abolitionists  as  intentionally  dishonest,  but 
rather  believe  they  were  governed  by  pure  motives.  I  did 
not,  however,  believe  either  in  their  object  or  in  their  course 


248  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

of  action ;  hence  I  need  not  say  that  I  am  not  now  ready 
to  admit  that  the  great  mass  of  the  people — the  two  great 
political  parties  of  the  country,  with  whom  I  was  in  accord 
on  this  subject — were  all  sinners,  and  only  the  Abolitionists 
saints.  I  refer,  now,  to  the  disposition,  prominently  mani 
fested  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  survivors  of  the  old  Abo 
lition  party,  to  canonize  their  leaders.  Let  them,  if  they 
please,  extol  one  another's  deeds  in  the  cause  of  abolition 
— let  them  have  their  tea  parties  and  recall  their  many  ex 
ploits,  their  sacrifices,  and  their  sufferings ;  but  when  they 
assume  all  the  credit  of  freeing  the  slave,  if  it  be  a  credit 
that  he  should  have  been  freed  by  war  and  bloodshed,  in 
stead  of  by  peaceful  means,  may  I  not,  in  all  charity,  say, 
let  them  not  forget  to  hold  themselves  answerable,  also,  in 
conjunction  with  kindred  spirits  at  the  South,  for  their  fall 
share  of  the  terrible  consequences  of  the  war  ? 

But  to  return  to  my  history.  In  a  letter  in  the  New 
York  Tribune,  23d  July,  1858,  Mr.  Blair,  Sr.,  said: 

"  When  he  died,  Colonel  Benton,  like  Clay  and  Jackson,  left  written 
testimonials  declaring  the  forfeiture  of  his  confidence  by  Mr.  Buchanan. 
In  the  sketch  of  his  life,  submitted  to  his  revision,  and  sent  to  the  press 
by  him  just  before  his  fatal  illness,  he  says  that  he  had  supported  Mr. 
Buchanan  against  his  own  son-in-law,  Colonel  Fremont,  and  assigns  as 
the  reason  the  confidence  that  Mr.  Buchanan,  if  elected,  would  restore 
the  principles  of  the  Jackson  administration,  and  the  apprehension  that 
the  success  of  Colonel  Fremont  would  engender  sectional  parties  fatal  to 
the  preservation  of  the  Union  ;  but  adds  that,  soon  after,  he  had  reason 
to  change  both  opinions." 

Mr.  Jones  positively  denies  that  Colonel  Benton  ever 
approved  of  the  sketch  referred  to  by  Mr.  Blair,  and  avers 
that  he  [Colonel  Benton]  "  specially  repudiated  the  whole 
piece,"  and  "  wrote  with  his  own  hands  an  entire  substitute 
for  the  caricature  that  had  been  prepared  for  him  in  the 
Blair  interest,  getting  out  of  his  bed  for  the  purpose  one 
month  before  his  death,  when  he  was  suffering  the  agonies 
of  a  thousand  deaths." 


A  REMINISCENCE.  249 

It  may  serve  to  elucidate  the  subject  somewhat  to  state 
that,  at  this  time,  Francis  P.  Blair,  Jr.,  was  a  candidate  for 
Congress  in  Missouri,  and  Mr.  Jones  refers  to  the  father  as 
speaking  of  "my  son  and  his  Missouri  canvass."  Indeed, 
he  intimates  that  the  whole  thing  was  intended  "  specially 
for  Missouri  consumption." 

On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Blair,  Sr.,  who,  everybody  knows, 
was  an  u  ugly  customer"  to  encounter  with  the  pen,  did  not 
hesitate  to  affirm  that,  "  In  taking  possession  of  Colonel 
Benton's  sick  room,  he  [Jones]  became  a  very  convenient 
exponent  to  suit  his  [Colonel  Benton's]  views  to  the  neces 
sities  of  the  administration.  But  probabilities  must  be 
concerted  to  give  countenance  to  favorable  reports.  It  was 
arranged  that  President  Buchanan  and  his  premier  [General 
Cass]  should  sit  by  the  death-bed." 

"  '  Arranged'  by  whom  ?"  Mr.  Jones  exclaimed,  with 
fierce  invective. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  was  at  the  special  request 
and  desire  of  Colonel  Benton  that  both  President  Buchanan 
and  General  Cass  called  to  see  him  a  few  hours  only  before 
he  died.  Mr.  Jones,  who  returned  from  a  foreign  mission 
about  the  29th  of  March,  1858,  says  that,  having  mentioned 
to  Colonel  Benton  the  fact  of  his  calling  immediately  to 
pay  his  respects  to  the  President  and  Secretary  of  State, 
Colonel  Benton  said  to  him,  "I  wish  you  to  go  again;  to 
take  in  person  my  card  to  each  of  them;  before  long,  I 
wish  to  see  them."  But  the  circumstances  attending  the 
invitation  and  the  visit  of  Mr.  Buchanan  are  succinctly 
stated  in  Governor  Jacob's  letter,  already  referred  to,  as 
follows  :  "  Mrs.  Jacob  wrote  the  note  requesting  the  Presi 
dent  to  call  and  see  her  father ;  and  the  writing  was  delayed 
some  time  for  the  reason  that  it  was  Colonel  Benton's  wish 
that  she  should  call  in  person  and  make  the  invitation,  but 
she  was  unwilling  to  leave  her  father  for  that  length  of 
time. 

"  Mr.  Buchanan  came  at  once,  and  had  an  interview  of 


250  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

some  length  with  Colonel  Benton,  Mrs.  Jacob  being  the 
only  other  person  present.  The  interview  was  wished  for 
by  Colonel  Benton  for  several  reasons  :  First,  to  thank  Mr. 
Buchanan  for  an  act  of  kindness  to  one  of  his  children, 
performed  twelve  years  ago,  which  fact  Colonel  Benton  was 
not  made  acquainted  with  until  three  days  before  his  death ; 
secondly,  to  exhort  him  to  try  to  preserve  the  Union,  look 
ing  to  God  for  strength  and  knowledge  of  the  right  course; 
and,  lastly,  to  assure  him  of  his  personal  friendship  and 
good-will  in  those  his  last  moments.  It  is  with  those  words 
we  now  have  to  deal.  He  took  the  President's  hands  in 
his,  and  said,  in  clear  tones,  *  Buchanan,  we  are  friends ; 
we  have  differed  on  many  points,  as  you  well  know,  but  I 
always  trusted  in  your  integrity  of  purpose.  I  supported 
you  in  preference  to  Fremont,  because  he  headed  a  sec 
tional  party,  whose  success  would  have  been  the  signal  for 
disunion.  I  have  known  you  long,  and  I  knew  you  would 
honestly  endeavor  to  do  right.  I  have  that  faith  in  you 
now,  but  you  must  look  to  a  higher  power  to  support  and 
guide  you.  We  will  soon  meet  in  another  world ;  I  am 
going  now ;  you  will  soon  follow.  My  peace  with  God  is 
made,  my  earthly  affairs  arranged  ;  but  I  could  not  go  with 
out  seeing  you  and  thanking  you  for  your  interest  in  my 
child.'  Much  more  was  said  that  is  too  sacred  to  repeat. 
Colonel  Benton  was  much  exhausted,  and  Mr.  Buchanan 
frequently  urged  him  to  spare  himself.  Mr.  Buchanan 
remarked  to  members  of  his  family  that  nothing  had  ever 
given  him  greater  pleasure.  When  Mrs.  Jacob  returned 
to  her  father's  room,  he  called  her  to  him,  and  said,  6  My 
child,  you  are  a  witness  of  what  has  passed  this  evening; 
think  of  it,  and  remember  it.  I  am  glad  Mr.  Buchanan 
came ;  all  is  peace  with  me,  and  I  can  rest.' ' 

The  Washington  Union  of  April  11,  1858,  said,  "  The 
President,  hearing  of  the  extreme  illness  of  his  ancient 
compeer,  called  upon  him  Friday  evening.  The  dying 
statesman  declared  afterward  his  exceeding  gratification 


A  REMINISCENCE.  251 

at  the  visit.  The  interview  is  said  to  have  been  pro 
tracted." 

Mr.  Jacob  Hall,  of  Missouri,  between  whom  and  Colonel 
Benton  a  warm  personal  friendship  had  existed  for  many 
years,  said,  in  a  letter  to  William  Carey  Jones,  under  date 
of  June  17,  1858,  referring  to  an  interview  with  Colonel 
Benton,  which  took  place  a  short  time  prior  to  'Mr.  Bu 
chanan's  visit,  that  "  He  (Colonel  Benton)  expressed  him 
self  in  unmistakable  terms  of  friendship  toward  the  Presi 
dent,  commending  his  honesty  and  uprightness  of  purpose. 
He  remarked  more  than  once  that  he  would  die  without  an 
unkind  feeling  toward  any  human  being.  He  gave  me  a 
verbal  message  for  the  President  in  accordance  with  these 
sentiments,  which  he  requested  that  I  should  deliver  to 
him.  This  I  did  according  to  his  request  and  my  recol 
lection  of  the  same." 

Colonel  Benton  died  on  the  morning  of  April  10.  Up  to 
almost  the  last  moment  he  was  engaged  upon  his  great 
work,  dictating  its  closing  chapter.  "  His  daughter,  Mrs. 
Jones,  sitting  beside  the  bed,  received  it,  sentence  by  sen 
tence,  whispered  in  her  ear,  and  repeated  it  aloud  to  her 
husband,  who  wrote  it  down.  It  was  then  read  over  to 
Colonel  Benton  and  received  his  corrections.  Surely  this 
indomitable  energy  and  courage  in  the  very  face  of  the 
"  King  of  Terrors"  was  most  remarkable.  I  thought  so  at 
the  time,  nor  do  I  remember  ever  having  heard,  before  or 
since,  of  so  wonderful  a  death-bed  scene. 

In  announcing  the  demise  of  Colonel  Benton,  the  National 
Intelligencer  had  also  this  touching  notice  :  "  It  is  a  curious 
and  affecting  circumstance  that  the  youngest  and  the  oldest 
of  the  family  should  have  died  within  a  few  hours  of  each 
other  under  the  same  roof.  An  infant  grandson  of  Colonel 
Benton,  the  child  of  Mr.  William  Carey  Jones,  died  in  the 
house  of  his  grandfather  yesterday  morning  (llth  of  April), 
and  the  nursling  and  the  grandfather  now  lie  side  by  side 
in  death  on  the  same  bier." 


252  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

On  the  8th  of  April  Colonel  Benton  addressed  the  fol 
lowing  note  to  Samuel  Houston,  Esq.,  Senator  in  Congress 
from  the  State  of  Texas,  and  George  W.  Jones,  Esq.,  Rep 
resentative  in  Congress  from  the  State  of  Tennessee, — viz. : 

"  C  STREET,  WASHINGTON,  April  8,  1858. 

'  To  you,  as  old  Tennessee  friends,  I  address  myself,  to  say  that  in  the 
event  of  my  death  here  I  desire  that  there  should  not  be  any  notice  taken 
of  it  in  Congress.  There  is  no  rule  of  either  house  that  will  authorize 
the  announcement  of  my  death,  and  if  there  were  such  a  rule  I  should 
not  wish  it  to  be  applied  in  my  case,  as  being  contrary  to  my  feelings  and 
convictions  long  entertained. 

"  Your  old  Tennessee  friend, 

"THOMAS  H.  BENTON." 

In  the  Senate,  on  Monday,  the  12th  of  April,  Mr.  Polk, 
of  Missouri,  said  it  was  known  to  the  members  of  the 
Senate  that  Colonel  Benton  had  requested  that  no  public 
demonstration  should  be  made  in  Congress  in  consequence 
of  his  death,  but  he  deemed  it  proper  to  move  an  adjourn 
ment  to  give  members  an  opportunity  to  attend  the  funeral. 
Mr.  Clark,  of  Missouri,  made  a  similar  announcement  in 
the  House,  and  both  houses  adjourned  accordingly. 

There  was  a  large  attendance  at  the  funeral,  including 
the  President,  heads  of  departments,  foreign  ministers, 
members  of  Congress,  and  other  distinguished  persons. 
Only  two  of  his  daughters,  Mrs.  Jones  and  Mrs.  Jacob, 
with  their  husbands,  were  present ;  of  the  other  two,  Mrs. 
Fremont  was  at  the  time  on  her  way  to  California,  and  Mrs. 
Boileau  was  in  Calcutta.  "  The  grandsire  and  the  grand 
child  reposed  in  death  side  by  side,  and  friendly  hands  had 
strewn  their  common  bier  with  choice  flowers — some  in 
mature  bloom,  others  just  budding  into  beauty." 

The  pall-bearers  were  General  Jesup,  General  Houston, 
Governor  Floyd,  W.  W.  Seaton,  James  B.  Clay,  W.  II. 
Appleton,  Jacob  Hall,  and  John  C.  Rives,  none  of  whom 
survives,  unless  it  be  Mr.  Appleton. 


A  REMINISCENCE.  253 

The  place  of  sepulture  at  St.  Louis  is  now  indicated  by  a 
fine  bronze  statue  of  the  illustrious  Senator. 

Rev.  Byron  Sunderland,  who  conducted  the  funeral  cere? 
monies  in  this  city,  said,  "  During  the  last  week  of  Colonel 
Benton's  life  I  had  several  interviews  with  him  at  his  own 
request.  Our  conversation  was  mainly  on  the  subject  of 
religion,  and  in  regard  to  his  own  views  and  exercises  in 
the  speedy  prospect  of  death.  In  these  conversations  he 
most  emphatically  and  distinctly  renounced  all  self-reliance 
and  cast  himself  entirely  on  the  mediation  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  as  the  ground  of  his  acceptance  with  God. 
His  own  words  were,  '  God's  mercy  in  Jesus  Christ  is  my 
sole  reliance.' ' 

As  early  as  in  September,  1857,  Colonel  Benton  had  a 
severe  attack  of  what  he  supposed  to  be  colic,  when  Dr.  J. 
F.  May,  his  physician,  pronounced  his  disease  (cancer  of  the 
bowels)  incurable,  and  so  informed  him.  This  Dr.  May 
states  in  a  letter  under  date  of  April  13,  1858,  to  Mr.  Wil 
liam  Carey  Jones.  Dr.  May  proceeds :  "  Before  he  was 
relieved,  in  the  attack  just  spoken  of,  he  had  given  up  all 
hope  of  life.  He  told  me  he  was  satisfied  the  hour  of  his 
dissolution  was  near  at  hand,  that  it  was  impossible  for 
him  to  recover,  and  that  his  only  regrets  at  parting  with 
the  world  were  in  '  separating  from  his  children,  and  in 
leaving  his  great  work  undone ;  that  death  had  no  terrors 
for  him,  for  he  had  thought  on  that  subject  too  long  to  feel 
any.'" 

In  the  intervals  of  his  visits  to  him  during  the  last  week 
of  his  illness,  Dr.  May  said  he  ascertained  that  he  was  in 
the  habit  of  correcting  proof-sheets,  and  "  I  recollect  one 
occasion  [said  he]  when  I  did  not  suppose  he  could  stand, 
he  suddenly  arose  from  his  bed,  and,  in  the  face  of  all  re 
monstrance,  walked  to  his  table  at  some  distance  off,  and 
corrected  and  finished  the  conclusion  of  another  work  on 
which  he  was  engaged.  His  unconquerable  will  enabled 
him  to  do  it,  but  when  done  he  was  so  exhausted  I  had  to 


254  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

take  the  pen  from  his  hand  to  give  it  the  direction.  As 
soon  as  he  recovered  from  the  immediate  danger  of  this 
attack  he  labored,  as  he  had  done  for  years  before,  con 
stantly  at  his  task,  rising  at  daylight,  and  writing  inces 
santly,  with  the  exception  of  the  hour  he  usually  devoted  to 
his  afternoon  ride  on  his  horse,  which  he  seemed  to  think 
was  a  benefit  to  him,  and  at  this  labor  he  continued  from 
day  to  day  until  about  a  week  before  his  death,  when,  no 
longer  able  to  rise  from  weakness,  he  wrote  in  his  bed,  and 
when  no  longer  able  to  do  that  dictated  his  views  to  others. 
"  Thus,  it  may  be  truly  said  of  him,  he  literally  died  in 
harness,  battling  steadily,  from  day  to  day,  with  the  most 
formidable  malady  that  afflicts  humanity,  his  intellect  un 
clouded,  and  his  iron  will  sustaining  him  in  the  execution 

7  O 

of  his  great  national  work  to  the  last  moment  of  his  exist 
ence." 

Thus  ended  the  life  of  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  dis 
tinguished  men  of  his  day.  I  have  given  place  to  these  in 
teresting  accounts  of  his  last  hours  because  such  detailed 
descriptions  of  the  closing  scenes  in  the  lives  of  great  per 
sonages  always  possess  a  charm  for  me,  more  especially  as 
they  offer  encouragement  in  that  I  think  I  behold  in  bold 
relief  the  stamp  of  immortality  upon  souls  thus  animated  as 
they  pass  out  of  mortal  sight. 

Colonel  Benton  was  born  in  Hillsborough,  IN".  C,,  March 
14,  1782,  and  consequently  was  in  his  seventy- seventh  year 
when  he  died.  He  was  a  student  at  Chapel  Hill  College,  in 
that  State,  studied  law  in  William  and  Mary  College,  Vir 
ginia,  served  one  or  two  years  as  lieutenant-colonel  in  the 
army,  and  in  1811  commenced  the  practice  of  the  law  at 
Nashville,  Tenn.,  removing  finally  to  St.  Louis  about  the  year 
1815.  He  was  elected  Senator  from  Missouri  in  1820,  ante 
rior  to  the  formal  admission  of  that  State  into  the  Union. 
He  retired  from  the  Senate  in  1851,  but  subsequently  served 
as  a  Representative  from  the  St.  Louis  district  in  the  Thirty- 
Third  Congress.  At  the  beginning  of  his  senatorial  career 


A  REMINISCENCE.  255 

he  was  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs,  of 
which  General  Jackson  was  chairman.  When  a  resident 
of  Tennessee  there  had  been  a  serious  encounter  between 
them,  but,  being  brought  together  upon  this  committee, 
"  their  friendly  intercourse  was  here  renewed."  We  are 
also  assured  that  "  the  early  alienation  was  never  alluded  to 
between  the  two  friends,  until  one  or  two  evenings  before 
General  Jackson's  departure  from  Washington  for  the  Her 
mitage,  in  March,  1838,  when  a  very  solemn  and  affecting 
conversation  occurred,  the  nature  of  which  we  may  well 
conjecture,  but  which,  of  course,  has  never  transpired." 

But  for  the  fact  that  almost  a  new  generation  has  grown 
up  since  we  had  the  happiness  in  this  country  to  pay  for 
our  daily  marketing  in  gold  coin,  it  would  doubtless  still  be 
fresh  in  the  memory  of  all  that  the  pet  name  for  such 
money  was  u  Benton  mint-drops,"  in  acknowledgment  of 
his  known  character  and  influence  as  a  "  hard-money  man," 
himself  being  not  unfrequently  spoken  of  as  "  Old  Bul 
lion."  He  became  famous,  likewise,  for  his  celebrated  dec 
laration,  "  Solitary  and  alone  I  set  this  ball  in  motion." 
This  he  made  in  the  Senate  on  the  17th  of  January,  1837, 
at  the  close  of  the  debate  on  his  resolution  for  expunging 
from  the  "  Journal  of  the  Senate"  Mr.  Clay's  resolution  of 
three  years  before  condemning  General  Jackson  for  the 
removal  of  the  public  deposits  from  the  old  Bank  of  the 
United  States. 

I  could  add  many  more  interesting  incidents  in  the  life 
of  Colonel  Benton,  but  my  article  is  already  sufficiently 
lengthy.  Although  of  a  proud  and  ostentatious  bearing, 
in  social  intercourse  he  was  usually  mild  and  fascinatingly 
agreeable.  Especially  fond  of  his  family,  he  was  a  most 
devoted  husband  and  father.  His  wife  preceded  him  to  the 
tomb  but  a  short  time,  and  his  son-in-law,  William  Carey 
Jones,  has  been  dead  several  years,  while  the  demise  of  his 
youngest  daughter,  Madame  Boileau,  occurred  in  France 
only  a  few  months  ago. 


256  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

In  conclusion,  let  me  say  that  in  referring  to  the  Kansas 
trouble  and  to  ex-President  Buchanan's  remark  about  the 
elder  Mr.  Blair,  it  is  far  from  my  purpose  to  revive  any 
controversy  relating  to  differences  growing  out  of  the  ex 
citing  subject  of  slavery,  or  to  reflect  upon  any  person 
whomsoever.  The  feeling  among  the  parties  concerned 
arose,  no  doubt,  out  of  political  considerations  alone,  and  I 
have  sought  to  give  truly  and  fairly  only  what  each  has 
said  for  himself. 

August  2,  1874. 


CHAPTER    V. 

ASSASSINATION   OF   PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

Terrible  Shock  and  Intense  Excitement  at  the  Shooting  of  the  President 
and  Murderous  Attack  on  Secretary  Seward  and  his  Son — Official 
Bulletins  of  the  Fearful  Particulars — Death  of  the  President — 
Troops  in  the  District  of  Columbia  ordered  out — Eewards  offered 
for  Arrest  of  the  Assassins — The  Cabinet  notifies  Vice-President 
Johnson — Ceremony  of  his  Inauguration — The  Assassin  Payne's 
Arrest,  and  with  Atzerodt,  Herold,  and  Surratt  condemned  to  Death 
— Evidence  of  Guilt  of  Mrs.  Surratt  and  Others — Stanton's  Im 
pressive  Eemarks  when  the  President  ceased  to  breathe. 

WERE  it  possible  to  photograph  the  scenes  which  took 
place  on  the  night  of  the  14th  of  April,  1865,  and  the  suc 
ceeding  several  days  in  the  city  of  Washington,  it  would 
make  a  picture  surpassing  in  horror  and  consequent  excite 
ment  anything  of  the  kind,  perhaps,  in  the  history  of  the 
world.  A  correspondent  of  the  Boston  Advertiser,  under 
date  of  Washington,  April  14,  11.15  P.M.,  truthfully  wrote : 
"  A  shock  from  heaven,  laying  half  the  city  in  ruins,  would 
not  have  startled  us  as  did  the  word  that  started  out  from 
Ford's  Theatre  half  an  hour  ago,  that  the  President  had 
been  shot.  It  flew  everywhere  in  five  minutes,  and  set  five 
thousand  feet  in  swift  and  excited  motion  on  the  instant." 


ASSASSINATION  OF  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN.  257 

The  description  of  the  shooting  is  familiar  to  most 
readers,  but  no  person,  not  present  in  the  city,  could  pos 
sibly  form  any  true  conception  of  the  horror,  mingled  with 
apprehension  of  threatened  danger,  which  prevailed  here 
at  the  time.  No  sooner  was  the  terrible  report  of  the 
assassination  of  President  Lincoln  spread  abroad  than  the 
rumor  came  that  attempts  had  been  made  also  upon  the 
lives  of  members  of  his  Cabinet  and  of  Vice-President 
Johnson.  The  early  morning  of  the  15th  was  full  of  these 
and  kindred  startling  rumors,  and  every  one  was  holding 
his  breath,  not  knowing  what  next  to  expect.  Some  relief 
was  felt  on  learning  that  the  members  of  the  Cabinet,  as 
well  as  the  Yice-President,  were  all  safe,  except  Mr.  Seward, 
Secretary  of  State,  who,  with  his  son  Frederick,  it  was 
feared,  had  been  fatally  wounded.  Major  Augustus  Seward, 
an  older  son,  and  George  F.  Robinson,  a  soldier,  nurse  of 
Secretary  Seward,  were  also  reported  as  seriously  wounded. 

The  following  official  bulletins,  varying  in  110  essential 
particular  from  the  actual  facts,  will  always  possess  an 
historical  interest : 

"WAR  DEPARTMENT,  WASHINGTON,  April  15,  1.30  A.M. 
"  MAJOR-GENERAL  Dix,  New  York. 

"  Last  evening,  at  10.30  P.M.,  at  Ford's  Theatre,  the  President,  while 
sitting  in  his  private  box  with  Mrs.  Lincoln,  Miss  Harris,  and  Major 
Rathburn,  was  shot  by  an  assassin  who  suddenly  entered  the  box.  He 
approached  behind  the  President.  The  assassin  then  leaped  upon  the 
stage,  brandishing  a  large  dagger  or  knife,  and  made  his  escape  by  the 
rear  of  the  theatre.  The  pistol-ball  entered  the  back  of  the  President's 
head.  The  wound  is  mortal.  The  President  has  been  insensible  ever 
since  it  was  inflicted,  and  is  now  dying. 

"  About  the  same  hour  an  assassin,  either  the  same  or  another,  entered 
Mr.  Seward's  house,  and,  under  pretence  of  having  a  prescription,  was 
shown  to  the  Secretary's  chamber.  The  Secretary  was  in  bed,  a  nurse 
and  Miss  Seward  with  him.  The  assassin  immediately  rushed  to  the 
bed,  inflicted  two  or  three  stabs  on  the  throat  and  two  on  the  face.  It  is 
hoped  the  wounds  may  not  be  mortal.  My  apprehension  is  that  they 
will  prove  fatal.  The  nurse  alarmed  Mr.  Frederick  Seward,  who  was  in 
an  adjoining  room,  and  hastened  to  the  door  of  his  father's  room,  where 

17 


258  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

he  met  the  assassin,  who  inflicted  upon  him  one  or  more  dangerous 
wounds.     The  recovery  of  Frederick  Seward  is  doubtful. 

"  It  is  not  probable  that  the  President  will  live  through  the  night. 

"  General  Grant  and  wife  were  advertised  to  be  at  the  theatre  this 
evening,  but  the  latter  started  for  Burlington  at  six  o'clock,  last 
evening. 

"  At  a  Cabinet  meeting,  at  which  General  Grant  was  present,  to-day, 
the  subject  of  the  state  of  the  country,  and  the  prospects  of  speedy 
peace,  was  discussed.  The  President  was  very  cheerful  and  hopeful, 
spoke  very  kindly  of  General  Lee  and  others  of  the  Confederacy,  and 
the  establishment  of  government  in  Virginia.  All  the  members  of  the 
Cabinet,  except  Mr.  Seward,  are  now  in  attendance  upon  the  President. 
I  have  seen  Mr.  Seward,  but  he  and  Frederick  were  both  unconscious. 

"  EDWIN  M.  STANTON, 

"  Secretary  of  War." 

"  WAR  DEPARTMENT,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  3  A.M.,  April  15. 
"  MAJOR-GENERAL  Dix,  New  York. 

"  The  President  still  breathes,  but  is  quite  insensible,  as  he  has  been 
ever  since  he  was  shot.  He  evidently  did  not  see  the  person  who  shot 
him,  but  was  looking  on  the  stage,  as  he  was  approached  behind. 

"Mr.  Seward  has  rallied,  and  it  is  hoped  he  may  live.  Frederick 
Seward's  condition  is  very  critical.  The  attendant  who  was  present  was 
stabbed  through  the  lungs,  and  is  not  expected  to  live.  The  wounds  of 
Major  Seward  are  not  serious. 

"  Investigation  strongly  indicates  J.  Wilkes  Booth  as  the  assassin  of 
the  President.  Whether  it  was  the  same  or  a  different  person  that 
attempted  to  murder  Mr.  Seward  remains  in  doubt. 

"  Chief- Justice  Cartter  is  engaged  in  taking  the  evidence.  Every 
exertion  has  been  made  to  prevent  the  escape  of  the  murderer.  His 
horse  has  been  found  on  the  road  near  Washington. 

"  EDWIN  M.  STANTON, 

"Secretary  of  War." 

"WAR  DEPARTMENT,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  April  15,  4.10  A.M. 
"  MAJOR-GENERAL  Dix,  New  York. 

"The  President  continues  insensible,  and  is  sinking.  Secretary 
Seward  remains  without  change.  Frederick  Seward's  skull  is  fractured 
in  two  places,  besides  a  severe  cut  upon  the  head.  The  attendant  is  still 
alive,  but  hopeless. 

"  Major  Seward's  wounds  are  not  dangerous.  It  is  now  ascertained 
with  reasonable  certainty  that  two  assassins  were  engaged  in  the  horrible 
crime :  Wilkes  Booth  being  the  one  that  shot  the  President ;  the  other, 


ASSASSINATION  OF  PEESIDENT  LINCOLN.  259 

a  companion  of  his,  whose  name  is  not  known,  but  whose  description  is 
so  clear  that  he  can  hardly  escape. 

"  It  appears,  from  a  letter  found  in  Booth's  trunk,  that  the  murder  was 
planned  before  the  4th  of  March,  but  fell  through  then  because  the 
accomplice  backed  out  until  Richmond  could  be  heard  from.  Booth 
and  his  accomplice  were  at  the  livery-stable  at  six  o'clock  last  evening, 
and  left  there  with  their  horses  about  ten  o'clock,  or  shortly  before  that 
hour.  It  would  seem  that  they  had  for  several  days  been  seeking  their 
chance,  but  for  some  unknown  reason  it  was  not  carried  into  effect  until 
last  night.  One  of  them  has  evidently  made  his  way  to  Baltimore,  the 
other  has  not  been  traced. 

"  EDWIN  M.  STANTON, 

"  Secretary  of  War." 

General  C.  C.  Augur,  in  command  of  the  Military  De 
partment  of  Washington,  as  soon  as  he  learned  that  the 
President  had  been  shot,  ordered  out  the  troops  in  the 
District,  and  "  in  a  few  moments  the  city  was  encircled 
with  pickets,  stationed  at  a  distance  of  about  fifty  feet 
apart.  Cavalry  was  placed  on  all  the  roads  leading  from 
Washington,  and  mounted  men  and  military  detectives 
proceeded  to  scour  the  country  in  every  direction,  with 
orders  to  arrest  any  suspicious  parties  that  they  might 
find." 

General  Augur  at  the  same  time  issued  an  order  offering 
§10,000  reward  "  to  be  paid  to  the  party  or  parties  arresting 
the  murderer  of  the  President,  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  the  assas 
sin  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Seward,  and  his  son." 
This  was  followed  by  the  offer  of  a  reward  of  $20,000  by 
the  city  government,  and  supplemented  by  the  further  offer 
by  the  Secretary  of  War  of  $100,000,  for  the  arrest  of  the 
assassins. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  15th  of  April  the  following 
communication  was  presented  by  the  Attorney-General  to 
the  Vice-President : 

"WASHINGTON  CITY,  D.  C.,  April  15,  1865. 

"  SIR, — Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United  States,  was  shot 
by  an  assassin  last  evening  at  Ford's  Theatre,  in  this  city,  and  died  at 
the  hour  of  twenty-two  minutes  after  seven  o'clock. 


260  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

"  About  the  same  time  at  which  the  President  was  shot,  an  assassin 
entered  the  sick-chamber  of  the  Hon.  William  H.  Seward,  Secretary  of 
State,  and  stabbed  him  in  several  places  in  the  throat,  neck,  and  face, 
severely,  if  not  mortally,  wounding  him.  Other  members  of  the  Secre 
tary's  family  were  dangerously  wounded  by  the  assassin  while  making 
his  escape.  By  the  death  of  President  Lincoln,  the  office  of  President 
has  devolved,  under  the  Constitution,  upon  you.  The  emergency  of  the 
government  demands  that  you  should  immediately  qualify  according  to 
the  requirements  of  the  Constitution,  and  enter  upon  the  duties  of  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States.  If  you  will  please  make  known  your  pleasure 
such  arrangements  as  you  deem  proper  will  be  made. 
"  Your  obedient  servants, 

"  HUGH  McCuLLOCH, 

"  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
"  EDWIN  M.  STANTON, 

"  Secretary  of  War. 
"  GIDEON  WELLES, 

"  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 
"WILLIAM  DENNISON, 

"  Postmaster-General. 
"  J.  P.  UPSHER, 

"  Secretary  of  the  Interior. 
"JAMES  SPEED, 

"  Attorney-General. 
"  To  ANDREW  JOHNSON,  Vice-President  of  the  United  States." 

Mr.  Johnson  requested  that  the  ceremony  should  take 
place  at  his  rooms  in  the  Kirkwood  House,  corner  of  Penn 
sylvania  Avenue  and  Twelfth  Street,  at  ten  o'clock  A.M., 
and.,  accordingly,  Chief-Justice  Chase  was  present  at  that 
hour  and  administered  the  oath,  the  following  named  gen 
tlemen  also  being  in  attendance, — viz.,  Hugh  McCulloch, 
James  Speed,  F.  P.  Blair,  Sr.,  Montgomery  Blair,  Senators 
Foot,  of  Vermont,  Eamsay,  of  Minnesota,  Yates,  of  Illi 
nois,  Stewart,  of  Nevada,  Hale,  of  New  Hampshire,  and 
General  Farnsworth,  of  Illinois. 

From  a  number  of  newspaper  accounts  before  me,  written 
at  the  time  of  the  assassination,  I  supplement  my  own  recol 
lections  of  this  tragical  event. 

The  play  on  the  boards  that  fatal  night  was  "  Our  Amer- 


ASSASSINATION  OF  PEESIDENT  LINCOLN.  261 

lean  Cousin,"  and  it  was  progressing  smoothly  to  its  climax. 
The  only  character  on  the  stage  was  that  of  Lord  Dundreary 
(Sothern),  Laura  Keene  being  the  other  star  of  the  even 
ing.  Suddenly  the  report  of  a  pistol  was  heard.  "  The 
audience  had  not  time  to  wonder  what  new  incident  of  the 
play  was  thus  heralded,  when  there  came  another  and 
stranger  interruption.  A  dark,  lithe  form  vaulted  over 
the  railing  of  the  President's  hox,  which  was  canopied  with 
the  American  flag.  As  the  intruder  struck  the  stage,  he 
fell  forward,  but  soon  gathered  himself  up  and  turned  erect 
in  full  view  of  the  audience."  At  the  moment  of  jumping, 
or  as  soon  as  he  recovered  himself  after  reaching  the  stage, 
he  cried  out,  "Sic  semper  tyrannis ;"  and  one  statement  is 
that  either  just  before  or  immediately  after  those  words,  he 
cried,  loud  enough  to  be  heard  all  over  the  house,  "  The 
South  is  avenged."  Captain  Rathburn,  who  was  in  the 
President's  box,  attempted  to  arrest  him,  when  the  assassin 
turned  quickly,  and,  drawing  a  knife,  dealt  him  a  severe 
blow.  The  slight  defence,  however,  had  the  effect  to  cause 
the  spur  of  the  murderer  to  catch  in  the  fringe  of  the  flag, 
and  he  fell,  striking  his  right  knee  and  thigh,  and  dragging 
the  flag  from  its  fastening  down  upon  the  stage  with  him, 
detaching  the  spur,  which  he  left  behind  him.  He  had 
already  heard  his  name  pronounced  by  a  score  of  lips 
when  he  rushed  across  the  stage  and  made  his  escape 
through  the  back  alley,  where  he  had  a  horse  in  waiting 
for  him. 

Meantime  a  scream  of  distress  was  heard  from  Mrs.  Lin 
coln,  and  the  greatest  confusion  ensued.  Everybody  knew 
now  that  the  President  had  been  shot.  He  had  sunk  down 
without  a  groan  or  a  struggle ;  and  after  her  first  outcry, 
Mrs.  Lincoln  had  fainted.  The  theatre  was  immediately 
cleared,  and  the  dying  President  was  tenderly  borne  to  a 
house  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street,  where  he  expired 
on  the  15th  of  April,  at  seven  o'clock  and  twenty-two  min 
utes  A.M. 


262  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

The  murderous  attempt  on  the  life  of  Secretary  Seward 
has  been  often  described.  This  part  of  the  conspiracy  was 
assigned  to  a  miscreant  whose  real  name  was  found  after- 
terwards  to  be  Powell,  but  whose  alias  was  Lewis  Payne. 
He  made  his  way  into  Mr.  Seward's  house  on  the  pretext 
that  he  was  the  bearer  of  a  prescription  or  medicine  from 
his  physician ;  but  his  bloody  purpose  was  immediately  dis 
closed  by  his  attack  upon  the  servants  who  stood  in  his  way, 
and  nothing  stopped  him  from  reaching  the  Secretary's 
room,  where  the  latter  was  lying  seriously  hurt  from  being 
thrown  out  of  his  carriage  a  short  time  previously.  Rob 
inson,  the  soldier  nurse,  stated  that  Frederick  Seward, 
Major  Augustus  Seward,  and  Mansell,  one  of  the  servants, 
were  all  wounded  on  or  near  the  stairway.  The  assassin 
held  in  his  hand  a  long  knife,  the  blade  of  which  appeared 
to  be  twelve  inches  in  length  and  one  inch  in  width.  Major 
Seward  was  cut  in  several  places,  but  not  dangerously.  One 
statement  is  that  Frederick  Seward  met  the  assassin  at  the 
door  and  was  then  felled  to  the  floor  by  blows  administered 
with  a  navy  pistol  with  such  force  as  to  break  the  pistol  and 
separate  the  chambers  from  the  barrel.  In  the  struggle, 
Robinson  received  a  wound  in  his  forehead.  The  knife 
glanced  off,  and  the  assassin's  hand  came  down  upon  Rob 
inson's  face  and  felled  him  to  the  floor.  He  then  leaped  to 
the  bed  where  Mr.  Seward  lay,  apparently  in  a  helpless  con 
dition,  and  gave  a  tremendous  blow  at  his  face,  but  missed 
and  almost  fell  across  the  bed.  Miss  Seward  escaped  from 
the  room  and  ran  to  the  front  window  screaming  murder. 
By  this  time  Robinson  had  recovered  and  caught  hold  of 
the  assassin's  arm,  but  failed  to  keep  him  back,  and  he 
again  struck  Mr.  Seward  with  his  dagger,  first  on  one  side 
of  his  face  or  neck,  and  then  on  the  other,  when  the  Secre 
tary  rolled  in  the  bedclothes  out  upon  the  floor.  They  con 
tinued  to  struggle  until  the  enraged  fiend,  having,  as  he  had 
reason  to  believe,  finished  his  deadly  work,  forced  his  way 
out  of  the  house,  without  his  hat,  and  rode  away.  He 


ASSASSINATION  OF  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN.  263 

threw  his  knife  into  the  street,  where  it  was  picked  up  and 
afterwards  presented,  presumably  by  the  Government,  to 
Robinson,  who  had  been  mistakenly  reported  as  fatally 
wounded,  and  it  is  still  in  his  possession.  Some  years  later 
he  received  the  appointment,  which  he  still  holds,  of  pay 
master  in  the  navy,  in  recognition  of  his  bravery  in  saving 
the  life  of  Mr.  Seward. 

The  following  current  account  of  Payne's  arrest  I  believe 
to  be  authentic.  It  is  worth  preserving  here.  The  Surratt 
house  stands,  as  it  did  in  1865  and  many  years  before,  with 
in  one  square  of  mine,  IsTo.  707  H  Street,  ~N.  W.,  wrhere  I 
have  resided  ever  since  1846.  It  had  been  noticed  that  sev 
eral  persons  were  in  the  habit  of  going  into  a  house  in  the 
heart  of  the  city  of  Washington  and  coming  out  again  with 
their  clothes  changed,  and  that  other  suspicious  movements 
since  the  assassination  of  the  President  made  it  possible 
that  the  inmates  might  have  some  connection  with  that 
melancholy  event.  On  Monday  night,  April  17,  Colonel 
Welles,  provost-marshal,  ordered  the  arrest  of  the  inmates, 
who  turned  out  to  be  Mrs.  Surratt,  the  mother  of  one  of  the 
alleged  assassins,  his  sister,  and  two  other  persons.  While 
preparing  to  remove  them  to  head-quarters  for  examination 
— evidences  of  their  deep  sympathy  with  the  assassins  being 
discovered — there  was  a  slight  knock  at  the  front  door. 
What  followed  is  thus  related  : 

The  door  was  opened  by  Major  Morgan,  Major  Smith  and 
Captain  Wermeskirch  standing  by,  with  their  pistols  ready 
to  be  used  if  necessary.  At  the  door  was  a  young-look 
ing  man,  about  five  feet  eleven  inches  in  stature,  of  light 
complexion,  with  peculiarly  large  gray  eyes,  and  hair  that 
had  evidently  been  dyed.  He  wore  a  gray  cashmere  coat 
and  vest,  fine  black  cloth  pantaloons,  and  fine  boots.  His 
boots  and  pantaloons  were  covered  with  mud  almost  to  the 
knees,  and  his  whole  appearance  was  that  of  one  who  had 
been  lying  out  in  the  rain.  He  had  a  pickaxe  on  his  shoul 
der.  When  the  door  was  opened,  he  exclaimed,  "  I  believe 


264  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

I  am  mistaken,"  and  turned  to  go  away.  He  was  asked  by 
Major  Morgan  whom  he  wanted  to  see.  He  answered, 
"Mrs.  Surratt."  Major  Morgan  said,  "Mrs.  Surratt  lives 
here;  she  is  at  home;  walk  in."  He  then  came  in,  and 
was  ushered  into  the  parlor.  After  being  seated  he  was 
closely  interrogated  as  to  his  business  at  that  time  of  night, 
twenty  minutes  after  eleven,  his  occupation,  etc.  In  reply, 
he  stated  that  he  was  a  laboring  man,  and  had  been  sent  for 
by  Mrs.  Surratt  to  dig  a  gutter,  and  had  called  to  know  at 
what  time  next  morning  she  wished  him  to  come  to  work. 
Major  Morgan  stepped  to  the  door  of  the  parlor,  and  said, 
"Mrs.  Surratt,  will  you  step  here  for  a  moment?"  Mrs. 
Surratt  came,  and  Major  Morgan  asked,  "  Do  you  know  this 
man  ?"  She  said,  raising  her  hand,  "  Before  God,  I  do  not 
know  him  and  have  never  seen  him."  The  stranger  went 
on  to  say  that  he  had  been  for  some  time  past  employed  on 
the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  as  a  laborer;  that  he  was 
at  work  on  the  road  on  Friday  last,  and  slept  that  night 
with  the  other  road  hands ;  that  he  had  no  money,  and 
earned  his  living  with  his  pickaxe.  He  confusedly  at 
tempted  to  tell  where  he  had  slept  on  Sunday  night,  and 
where  he  had  been  since  Saturday  morning,  but  often  con 
tradicted  himself,  and  broke  down  completely  in  this  part 
of  his  narrative.  During  the  investigation  he  produced 
a  certificate  of  the  oath  of  allegiance,  purporting  to  have 
been  taken  by  Lewis  Payne,  of  Fauquier  County,  Virginia, 
and  claimed  that  was  his  name  ;  but  when  questioned  about 
it,  evidently  did  not  know  anything  about  the  date  of  the 
certificate.  He  asserted  frequently  that  he  was  a  poor  man, 
and  could  neither  read  nor  write,  and  earned  his  living  by 
his  daily  labor ;  but  his  language  was  that  of  a  man  of  edu 
cation,  and  his  feet  and  hands  were  small  and  well-shaped, 
the  latter  being  delicate,  white,  as  soft  as  a  woman's,  and 
unstained  with  any  mark  of  toil.  He  wore  on  his  head 
a  sort  of  Scotch  skull-cap,  which  on  examination  was  found 
to  have  been  made  by  cutting  off  the  arm  of  a  stockinet 


ASSASSINATION  OF  PEESIDENT  LINCOLN.  265 

shirt,  or  the  leg  of  drawers  of  the  same  material,  the  top 
of  the  cap  being  formed  by  tying  a  string  around  one  of 
the  ends. 

Upon  searching  his  pockets  they  were  found  to  contain 
a  comb,  hair-  and  tooth-brushes,  a  pot  of  pomatum,  a  pack 
age  of  pistol  cartridges,  a  new  pocket  compass,  and  twenty- 
five  dollars  in  greenbacks.  After  the  preliminary  examina 
tion,  he  was  taken,  in  charge  of  officers  Sampson  and  Devoe, 
to  General  Augur's  head-quarters,  where,  upon  further  ex 
amination,  he  gave  an  account  of  himself  quite  different 
from  the  one  previously  given.  It  was  evident  that  he  was 
in  disguise,  and  had  been  completely  taken  by  surprise  in 
finding  the  officers  at  the  house  where  he  expected  to  find 
a  welcome  and  refuge.  The  facts  disclosed  in  the  exami 
nation  induced  the  belief  that  he  was  the  blood-thirsty 
villain  who  had  attempted  the  life  of  Secretary  Seward  on 
Friday  night.  He  was  placed  in  a  room  with  two  other 
strangers.  The  light  was  made  dim,  as  nearly  as  possible 
in  imitation  of  the  condition  of  the  light  in  Mr.  Seward's 
room  on  that  eventful  night,  and  the  domestics  of  Mr. 
Seward  were  sent  for.  Upon  entering  the  room,  the  porter, 
a  colored  boy  about  seventeen  years  of  age,  threw  up  his 
hands  with  an  exclamation  of  horror,  and,  pointing  to  the 
man,  said,  "  That  is  the  man  !  I  don't  want  to  see  him  ; 
he  did  it;  I  know  him  by  that  lip!"  The  servant  had 
already  described  some  peculiarity  about  the  upper  lip  of 
the  man  whom  he  had  admitted  to  commit  the  foul  and 
murderous  deed  at  Secretary  Seward's,  and  testimony  had 
been  procured  tracing  him  step  by  step,  from  the  time  of 
his  separation  from  Booth  until  he  entered  Mr.  Seward's 
house.  The  chain  of  evidence  was  complete  and  fastened 
upon  him  as  the  perpetrator  of  the  horrid  crime  which  had 
shocked  the  whole  community.  The  villain  was  heavily 
ironed,  and  placed  in  confinement  on  one  of  the  gunboats. 

J.  Wilkes  Booth  and  David  E.  Herold,  it  is  wrell  known, 
succeeded  in  making  their  way  over  the  Eastern  Branch  of 


266  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

the  Potomac  into  Maryland,  stopping  there  at  Dr.  Samuel 
A.  Mudd's  to  have  Booth's  leg  set,  broken  in  jumping  from 
the  President's  box  at  the  theatre ;  then  they  were  chased 
through  the  swamp  in  St.  Mary's  County  across  the  Poto 
mac  to  Garrett's  farm,  near  Port  Royal,  Virginia,  on  the 
Rappahannock,  where  they  were  brought  to  bay  in  Gar 
rett's  barn  on  the  26th  of  April.  Herold  surrendered,  but 
Booth  refusing  to  surrender,  after  a  long  parley,  the  barn 
was  set  on  fire.  The  flames  rose  rapidly,  firing  the  whole 
building,  when  Booth  ran  to  where  the  fire  was  kindled, 
and  with  pistol  raised,  was  peering  through  the  darkness, 
but  seemed  unable  to  see  any  one.  He  then  turned,  gazed 
upon  the  flames,  and  suddenly  started  for  the  door,  when 
Sergeant  Corbett,  in  violation  of  orders,  left  the  line,  and, 
going  close  to  the  wall  before  him,  fired  his  pistol  through 
a  crack,  shooting  Booth  in  the  neck,  causing  his  death  in 
about  three  hours. 

G.  A.  Atzerodt,  whose  assignment  was  to  kill  the  Vice- 
President,  was  arrested  on  the  18th  of  April,  near  German- 
town,  Montgomery  County,  Md.  Samuel  Arnold,  charged 
with  conspiracy  to  kidnap  the  President,  Michael  O'Laugh- 
lin,  believed  to  have  been  chosen  to  murder  General  Grant, 
Dr.  Samuel  A.  Mudd,  Edward  Spangler,  who  held  Booth's 
horse  in  the  alley  leading  from  the  theatre,  and  Mrs.  Sur- 
ratt  were  all  soon  in  custody.  John  H.  Surratt,  another 
of  the  conspirators,  left  the  city  immediately  after  the 
tragedy,  and,  going  first  to  Canada,  went  from  there  to 
Italy,  \vhere  he  was  found  in  the  military  service  of  the 
pope,  arrested  in  December,  1866,  and  brought  back  for 
trial,  but  escaped  conviction. 

Payne,  Atzerodt,  Herold,  and  Mrs.  Surratt  were  declared 
guilty  by  a  military  commission,  and  were  hanged  on  the 
7th  of  July,  1865.  O'Laughlin,  Arnold,  and  Mudd  were 
sentenced  to  imprisonment  at  hard  labor  for  life.  Spangler 
was  let  off  with  six  years  like  imprisonment,  and  all  four 
were  sent  to  serve  their  sentence  at  the  Dry  Tortugas. 


ASSASSINATION  OF  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN.  267 

Mudd  was  pardoned  February  8,  1869,  and  Arnold  and 
Spangler  on  the  1st  of  March,  1869.  O'Laughlin  died  of 
yellow  fever,  September  23,  1867,  while  in  confinement  at 
Fort  Judson,  Florida. 

The  purpose  of  the  assassins  was  believed  to  be  to  take 
the  lives  also  of  Secretary  Stanton,  the  Vice-President,  and 
General  Grant,  the  latter  of  whom  was  advertised  to  attend 
the  theatre  with  the  President,  but  left  early  in  the  evening 
for  Burlington,  2s\  J.,  returning  immediately,  however,  the 
next  morning,  on  learning  of  the  assassination. 

It  was  currently  reported  that,  on  the  evening  of  the 
assaults,  two  gentlemen,  who  went  to  apprise  the  Secretary 
of  War  of  the  attack  on  Mr.  Lincoln,  met  at  the  residence 
of  the  former  a  man  muffled  in  a  cloak,  who,  when  accosted 
by  them,  hastened  away  without  a  word.  It  was  evident, 
therefore,  as  was  remarked  at  the  time,  that  the  aim  of  the 
conspirators  was  to  paralyze  the  nation  by  at  once  striking 
down  the  head,  heart,  and  arm  of  the  country. 

I  did  not  intend  in  this  paper  to  say  another  word  about 
Mrs.  Surratt,  but  when  it  was  nearly  finished  I  happened 
to  mention  it  to  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  distinguished 

o 

United  States  senators,  who  remarked  that  a  great  deal  had 
been  said  by  her  apologists  against  her  execution,  claiming 
that  it  was  unjust  and  cruel,  since,  if  guilty  at  all,  it  was 
only  in  conspiring  to  kidnap  the  President,  which  he  be 
lieved  she  herself  had  confessed ;  but,  said  he,  even  were 
this  the  extent  of  her  guilt,  there  is  not  another  Govern 
ment  in  the  world  that  would  not,  for  such  a  crime,  have 
condemned  her  to  death. 

But  whether  there  was  ever  a  plot  to  kidnap  or  not,  is  it 
not  simply  preposterous  to  suppose  that  Booth  and  Herold 
alone  were  to  attempt  it,  or  that  Mrs.  Surratt  was  ignorant 
of  the  final  purpose  to  assassinate  the  President?  Why  did 
she  go  twice  to  Surrattville,  first  on  the  llth,  and  the  second 
time  on  the  afternoon  of  the  14th  of  April,  when  she  made 
of  John  M.  Lloyd,  who  kept  the  Surratt  House,  particular 


268  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

inquiry  about  two  carbines  and  some  ammunition  left  there 
in  concealment  five  or  six  weeks  previously,  by  John  H.  Sur 
ratt,  in  company  with  Herold  and  Atzerodt,  as  testified  by 
Lloyd,  who  was  there  and  her  friend,  and  who  was  thrown 
into  the  old  capitol  prison  on  suspicion  of  being  implicated 
with  them  ?  Weichman,  another  witness,  who  drove  Mrs. 
Surratt  both  times  to  Surrattville,  testified  that,  on  the  last 
occasion,  they  returned  to  Mrs.  Surratt's  about  half-past  nine 
or  ten  on  the  night  of  the  14th,  and  that  a  few  minutes  there 
after  Mrs.  Surratt  answered  the  door-bell,  and  he  u  heard 
footsteps  going  into  the  parlor  and  immediately  going  out." 
Was  it  Booth,  who  had  called  to  make  sure  that  the  two 
carbines  and  ammunition  were  in  readiness  for  him  and 
Herold  ?  Lloyd  testified  that  he  thought  Mrs.  Surratt,  on 
both  visits,  spoke  of  the  carbines,  which  she  called  "  shoot 
ing  irons,"  and  he  is  positive  she  did  so  on  the  last,  when 
she  said  to  him,  "  Mr.  Lloyd,  I  want  you  to  have  the  shoot 
ing  irons  ready;  some  parties  will  call  for  them  to-night." 
I  will  conclude  with  a  remarkable  incident  which  comes 
to  me  from  good  authority,  touching  Mr.  Stanton.  It  is 
known,  of  course,  that  there  was  a  time  when  he  did  not 
hesitate  to  speak  contemptuously  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  that, 
not  infrequently,  while  a  member  of  his  Cabinet,  his  bearing 
toward  the  President  was  highly  disrespectful,  as  it  was, 
likewise,  toward  some  of  his  subordinate  chiefs  and  officers 
of  the  army.  He  is  sometimes  called  the  "  Great  War  Sec 
retary,"  and  in  many  respects  he  doubtless  was  entitled  to 
that  distinction ;  nor  would  I  detract  one  iota  from  the 
value  of  the  great  services  he  rendered  the  country  during 
the  war.  But  in  some  respects,  certainly,  he  was  a  strange 
man,  not  easily  comprehended.  Few  among  his  intimate 
acquaintances  felt  that  they  really  knew  him.  Even  Presi 
dent  Buchanan  was  not  sure  on  this  point.  In  a  letter  to 
me  of  12th  of  November,  1861,  the  ex-President,  referring 
to  his  intention  to  write  a  history  of  his  administration, 
said,  "  You  must  not  be  astonished  some  day  to  find  in 


HOLT  AND  THE  LINCOLN  CONSPIRATOES.          269 

print  portraits  drawn  by  myself  of  all  those  who  ever  served 
in  my  Cabinet.  I  think  I  know  them  all  perfectly,  unless 
it  maybe  Stanton." 

Visitors  at  the  War  Department  will  remember  seeing 
there  Mr.  Stanton 's  portrait,  a  perfect  likeness,  which  rep 
resents  him  leaning  on  his  elbow,  the  forefinger  of  his  right 
hand  against  his  cheek,  and  his  thumb  under  his  chin. 
This  was  the  position  chosen  by  the  artist  for  his  picture,  it 
being  Mr.  Stanton's  exact  pose  when  looking  with  mourn 
ful  anxiety  on  the  face  of  the  dying  President;  and  at  the 
moment  he  breathed  his  last,  when  the  attending  physician, 
with  hand  on  Mr.  Lincoln's  pulse,  announced  that  it  had 
ceased  to  beat,  Mr.  Stanton,  with  deep  feeling,  said,  "  He 
now  belongs  to  the  ages." 

It  is  pleasant  to  find  that,  even  in  this  late  and  last  hour, 
Mr.  Stanton  was  brought  to  realize  the  true  grandeur  of  the 
illustrious  man  whose  martyrdom  will  bear  precious  fruit 
through  the  centuries  to  come. 
December  1,  1893. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

GENERAL    HOLT    AND    THE   LINCOLN    CONSPIRATORS. 

Triumphant  Refutation  of  the  Charges  of  allowing  Mrs.  Surratt  to  be 
manacled,  and  of  his  withholding  from  President  Johnson  the 
Recommendation  for  Commutation  of  her  Sentence  to  Life  Im 
prisonment. 

IN  the  New  York  Tribune  of  September  2, 1873,  there  ap 
peared  an  anonymous  communication  written  from  Wash 
ington  under  the  signature  of  u  Truth,"  so  grossly  calum 
nious  of  General  Joseph  Holt,  Judge- Advocate-General  in 
the  trial  of  the  assassins  of  President  Lincoln,  that  he 
demanded  the  name  of  the  author,  who  proved  to  be  John 
T.  Ford,  of  Ford's  Theatre,  where  the  fearful  tragedy  was 


270  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

enacted,  and  who,  at  the  time,  was  committed  to  the  Carroll 
Prison,  where  he  was  kept — on  suspicion,  it  is  presumed — 
over  a  month,  when  he  was  liberated  without  being  brought 
to  trial.  Naturally  enough,  perhaps,  he  harbored  a  strong 
prejudice  against  General  Holt,  and  sought  to  defame  his 
character  under  cover  through  the  press.  Among  other 
things  he  accused  General  Holt  with  having  kept  Mrs. 
Surratt  "  heavily  manacled  during  her  trial,  and  also  of 
virtually  depriving  her  of  reputable  counsel," — referring  to 
the  Hon.  Reverdy  Johnson,  who,  as  clearly  appears  by  his 
argument,  which  was  upon  the  question  of  jurisdiction,  vol 
untarily  withdrew,  leaving  the  case  in  the  hands  of  his  asso 
ciate  counsel,  Messrs.  Clampitt  and  Aiken.  General  Holt 
met  the  other  charge  by  a  letter,  addressed  to  him,  under 
date  of  September  4,  1873,  from  General  J.  F.  Hartranft, 
who,  referring  to  Ford's  article  in  the  Tribune,  said : 

"  I  think  it  proper,  in  justice  to  you,  to  declare  publicly  that  its  state 
ments,  so  far  as  they  relate  to  occurrences  within  my  own  observation, 
are  absolute  falsehoods.  As  marshal  of  the  court  before  whom  the  con 
spirators  were  tried,  I  had  charge  of  Mrs.  Surratt  before,  during,  and 
after  the  time  of  her  trial,  in  all  a  period  of  about  two  months,  during 
which  she  never  had  a  manacle  or  manacles  on  either  hands  or  feet ;  and 
the  thought  of  manacling  her  was  not,  to  my  knowledge,  ever  entertained 
by  any  one  in  authority." 

One  would  suppose  that  proof  so  conclusive  ought  to  set 
forever  at  rest  the  "  manacle"  charge ;  and,  as  regards  the 
reference  to  Reverdy  Johnson,  it  is  plain  beyond  doubt  that, 
u  had  he  desired  to  continue  in  the  case,  assuredly  there 
was  no  power  that  could  have  prevented  him  from  doing  so." 

Yet,  notwithstanding  this  and  the  overwhelming  testi 
mony  on  the  other  more  serious  and  wanton  charge  against 
General  Holt  of  withholding  from  President  Johnson  the 
recommendation  of  five  members  of  the  court  that  the 
sentence  of  Mrs.  Surratt  be  commuted  to  imprisonment  in 
the  penitentiary,  John  T.  Ford  appears  again  in  the  North 
American  Review  for  April,  1889,  in  an  article  reiterating 


HOLT  AND  THE  LINCOLN  CONSPIRATOES.          271 

the  falsehoods  of  his  anonymous  communication,  and  trying 
to  show  that  General  Holt  was  guilty  of  withholding  from 
President  Johnson  the  aforesaid  recommendation  of  Mrs. 
Surratt  to  mercy. 

Now,  in  as  brief  a  manner  as  possible,  I  will  recite  some 
of  the  stronger  evidence,  clearly  proving  the  falsity  of  this 
last  charge,  made  first  before  President  Johnson's  term 
expired,  and  afterwards  by  Johnson  himself,  when  he  was 
seeking  "  to  curry  favor  with  the  South  in  the  hope  of 
being  elected  to  the  Presidency."  He  did  not  dare  to  make 
the  charge  while  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  Government, 
because  he  knew  if  he  did  that  General  Holt  would  instantly 
demand,  as  he  did  ask  for  in  1866,  a  court  of  inquiry,  which 
the  President  declined  to  order,  and  that  all  the  facts  and 
circumstances  of  the  case  would  come  out.  General  Holt, 
I  think,  took  little,  if  any,  public  notice  of  this  slander  until 
he  found  it  had  received  the  indorsement  of  ex-President 
Johnson,  when,  in  a  communication  published  in  the  Wash 
ington  Dally  Chronicle  of  August  26,  1873,  he  produced  the 
most  incontrovertible  proof  that  "  President  Johnson  had 
knowledge  of,  considered,  and  commented  on  the  recom 
mendation  of  Mrs.  Surratt  to  clemency  by  members  of  the 
court  before  her  execution."  It  had  been  publicly  asserted 
that  President  Johnson  approved  the  findings  of  the  court 
"  without  having  seen  the  recommendation  or  known  of  its 
existence,"  although  it  was  known,  of  course,  to  every 
member  of  the  court,  and  it  was  also  made  known  to  Sec 
retary  Stanton,  both  by  General  Holt  and  by  Judge  Bing- 
ham,  one  of  the  special  judge-advocates  in  the  trial,  im 
mediately  after  the  close  of  the  trial.  In  his  answer  to 
General  Holt  (see  "Washington  Daily  Chronicle  of  November 
12,  1873),  Mr.  Johnson  undertakes  to  support  his  assertion 
that  he  never  saw  the  recommendation  by  showing  that 
it  was  omitted  in  Pitman's  authorized  publication  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  trial.  But  this  omission  was  fully  ex 
plained.  It  arose  simply  from  the  fact,  as  stated  by  General 


272  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

II.  L.  Burnett,  special  judge-advocate,  who  superintended 
the  publication,  that  "  the  recommendation  to  mercy  con 
stituted  properly  no  part  of  the  record  of  the  trial,"  and 
was  not,  therefore,  furnished  by  him  to  Pitman  for  his 
book.  In  a  letter  of  December  22,  1873,  to  General  Holt 
(see  Washington  Daily  Chronicle,  December  1,  1873)  Mr. 
Pitman  also  says,  "  The  recommendation  in  favor  of  Mrs. 
Surratt  was  not  inserted  in  my  book  for  the  reason  that  it 
formed  no  part  of  the  proceedings  of  the  trial ;  it  was  not 
mentioned  at  any  open  session." 
Judge  Bingham  says : 

"  Before  the  President  had  acted  on  the  case  I  deemed  it  my  duty  to 
call  the  attention  of  Secretary  Stanton  to  the  petition  for  the  commuta 
tion  of  sentence  upon  Mrs.  Surratt,  and  did  call  his  attention  to  it  before 
the  final  action  of  the  President.  .  .  .  After  the  execution  I  called  upon 
Secretaries  Stanton  and  Seward  and  asked  if  this  petition  had  been  pre 
sented  to  the  President  before  the  death  sentence  was  by  him  approved, 
and  was  answered  by  each  of  these  gentlemen  that  the  petition  was  pre 
sented  to  the  President  and  was  duly  considered  by  him  and  his  advisers 
before  the  death  sentence  upon  Mrs.  Surratt  was  approved,  and  that  the 
President  and  the  Cabinet,  upon  such  consideration,  were  a  unit  in 
defying  the  prayer  of  the  petition  ;  Mr.  Seward  and  Mr.  Stanton  stating 
that  they  were  present." 

Attorney-General  James  Speed,  in  a  letter  to  General 
Holt,  March  30,  1873,  says : 

"  After  the  finding  of  the  military  commission  that  tried  the  assassins 
of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  before  their  execution,  I  saw  the  record  of  the  case 
in  the  President's  office,  and  attached  to  it  was  a  paper,  signed  by  some 
of  the  members  of  the  commission,  recommending  that  the  sentence 
against  Mrs.  Surratt  be  commuted  to  imprisonment  for  life ;  and,  accord 
ing  to  my  memory,  the  recommendation  was  made  because  of  her  sex. 
I  do  not  feel  at  liberty  to  speak  of  what  was  said  in  Cabinet  meetings. 
In  this  I  know  I  differ  from  other  gentlemen,  but  feel  constrained  to 
follow  my  own  sense  of  propriety." 

James  Harlan,  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  states  positively 
that  "  after  the  sentence  and  before  the  execution  of  Mrs. 
Surratt,  I  remember  distinctly  the  discussion  of  the  ques- 


HOLT  AND  THE  LINCOLN  CONSPIEATORS.          273 

tion  of  the  commutation  of  the  sentence  of  death  pro 
nounced  on  her  by  the  court  to  imprisonment  for  life,  had 
by  members  of  the  Cabinet,  in  the  presence  of  President 
Johnson."  He  thinks  there  were  only  three  or  four  mem 
bers  present,  and  when  he  entered  the  subject  was  under 
warm  discussion.  He  does  not  remember  hearing  read  in 
Cabinet  meeting  any  part  of  the  record  of  the  trial  or  the 
recommendation  of  clemency,  but  says  he  was  "told  that 
the  whole  case  had  been  carefully  examined  by  the  Attor 
ney-General  and  the  Secretary  of  War,"  the  two  Cabinet 
officers  more  immediately  concerned,  officially,  in  the 
matter.  At  this  period  Mr.  Harlan  was  the  editor  of  the 
Chronicle,  and  in  reference  to  the  recommendation  to  mercy 
he  said,  "  Had  such  a  paper  been  presented,  it  is,  in  our 
opinion,  hardly  probable  that  it  would,  under  the  circum 
stances,  have  induced  him  to  interfere  with  the  regular 
course  of  justice." 

James  M.  Wright,  at  the  time  Chief  Clerk  of  the  Bureau 
of  Military  Justice,  states  that  when  President  Johnson 
sent  a  messenger  to  General  Holt  requesting  him  to  bring 
the  papers  before  him  for  his  action,  the  recommendation 
for  mercy  was  among  them,  in  plain  sight,  and  that  when 
the  case  came  back  through  the  Adjutant-GeneraPs  office 
it  remained  attached  to  the  other  papers. 

General  R.  D.  Mussey,  President  Johnson's  private  sec 
retary,  says,  "  On  the  Wednesday  evening  previous  to  the 
execution  (which  was  Friday,  July  7,  1865)  Mr.  Johnson 
said  to  me  that  he  was  going  to  look  over  the  findings  of 
the  court  with  Judge  Holt,  and  should  be  busy  and  could 
see  no  one."  Two  or  three  hours  afterwards,  Mr.  Johnson 
came  out  of  the  room  where  he  had  been  in  conference  with 
General  Holt  and  said  to  him  [General  Mussey]  that  "  the 
papers  had  been  looked  over  and  a  decision  reached." 
General  Mussey  continues : 

"  I  am  very  confident,  though  not  absolutely  assured,  that  it  was  at 
this  interview  Mr.  Johnson  told  me  that  the  court  had  recommended  Mrs. 

18 


274  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

Surratt  to  mercy  on  the  ground  of  her  sex  (and  age,  I  believe).  But  I 
am  certain  he  did  so  inform  me  about  that  time,  and  that  he  said  he 
thought  the  grounds  urged  insufficient,  and  that  he  had  refused  to  inter 
fere  ;  that  if  she  was  guilty  at  all,  her  sex  did  not  make  her  any  the  less 
guilty ;  that  he,  about  the  time  of  her  execution,  justified  it ;  that  he 
told  me  that  there  had  not  been  '  women  enough  hanged  in  this  war.' " 

General  James  A.  Ekin,  one  of  the  commissioners  in  the 
trial,  relates,  under  date  of  August  26, 1867,  a  conversation 
he  had  with  General  Holt  soon  after  the  trial,  in  which  he 
states  that  General  Holt  told  him  that  the  entire  case,  in 
cluding  all  papers,  had  been  placed  before  the  President, 
and  that  his  particular  attention  had  been  directed  to  the 
recommendation  of  certain  members  for  the  commutation 
of  the  sentence  of  Mrs.  Surratt ;  that  the  President  had 
carefully  scrutinized  and  fully  considered  the  case,  in 
cluding  the  recommendation  to  mercy  on  behalf  of  Mrs. 
Surratt ;  but  that  he  could  not  accede  to  or  grant  the  peti 
tion,  for  the  reason  that  there  was  no  .class  in  the  South 
more  violent  in  the  expression  and  practice  of  treasonable 
sentiments  than  the  rebel  women,  etc. 

General  H.  L.  Burnett,  in  an  address  before  the  Loyal 
Legion,  New  York,  on  the  3d  of  April,  1889,  published  in 
the  New  York  Tribune  of  the  next  day,  in  giving  an  account 
of  the  trial  and  explaining  why  the  recommendation  for 
clemency  to  Mrs.  Surratt  did  not  appear  in  Pitman's  book, 
said: 

"  When  I  reached  my  office  from  the  War  Department  on  June  30,  or 
possibly  on  the  morning  of  July  1,  I  attached  the  petition  for  mercy  to 
the  findings  and  sentences,  and  at  the  end  of  them.  I  carried  the  find 
ings  and  sentences,  and  the  petition  or  recommendation,  and  delivered 
them  to  the  Judge-Advocate-General  in  person;  and  I  never  saw  the 
record  again  until  many  years  after, — I  think  in  1873  or  1874.  After 
Judge  Holt's  interview  with  the  President,  on  July  5,  the  former  came 
to  Mr.  Stanton's  office  in  the  War  Department.  I  was  with  Mr.  Stanton 
when  Judge  Holt  came  in.  He  said,  '  I  have  just  come  from  a  confer 
ence  with  the  President  over  the  proceedings  of  the  military  commission.' 
'  Well,'  asked  Mr.  Stanton,  '  what  has  he  done  ?'  '  He  has  approved  the 
findings  and  sentence  of  the  court/  replied  Judge  Holt.  '  What  did  he 


HOLT  AND  THE  LINCOLN  CONSPIRATORS.          275 

say  about  the  recommendation  to  mercy  of  Mrs.  Surratt  ?'  '  He  said  that 
she  must  be  punished  with  the  rest ;  that  no  reasons  were  given  for  hia 
interposition  by  those  asking  for  clemency  in  her  case  except  age  and 


Now,  is  there  a  fair-minded  person  living  who  would 
require  more  or  better  proof  that  the  recommendation  for 
the  commutation  of  the  sentence  of  Mrs.  Surratt  to  impris 
onment  for  life  was  in  President  Johnson's  office,  and  that 
the  question  was  fully  considered  by  him  in  conference  with 
several,  if  not  with  all,  of  the  members  of  his  Cabinet  be 
fore  the  day  of  execution?  True,  no  one  states  that  he 
actually  saw  it  in  the  President's  hands,  though  Judge 
Bingham  says  both  Secretaries  Stanton  and  Seward  told 
him  it  was  presented  to  him  and  duly  considered  before 
the  death  sentence  was  approved.  But  Attorney-General 
Speed,  a  direct  eye-witness,  could,  had  he  chosen  to  speak, 
have  made  this  fact  certain  beyond  doubt  or  cavil.  Mr. 
Ford  professes  amazement  at  General  Holt's  anxiety  for 
more  detailed  testimony  from  Mr.  Speed,  as  indicated  by 
their  correspondence  on  the  subject  in  the  North  American 
Review  for  July,  1888.  I  am  myself  free  to  confess  that  I 
do  not  think  any  additional  proof  whatever  is  at  all  neces 
sary  for  General  Holt's  complete  vindication;  but  Mr. 
Speed  had  been  a  life-long  friend  of  his,  and  knowing  that 
he  saw  the  aforesaid  recommendation  in  the  President's 
own  hands,  is  it  strange  that  he  should  insist  that  he  should 
tell  him  so  ?  He  may  be  and  is,  I  think,  over-sensitive.  In 
his  preface  to  Pitman's  book  of  the  trial,  Major  Ben :  Perley 
Poore,  who  unwittingly  repeats  the  false  newspaper  man 
acle  story,  observes,  "  General  Holt  is  an  inflexibly  upright 
administrator  of  justice,  yet  humanities  have  a  large  place 
in  his  heart ;"  and  General  Mussey,  speaking  of  the  call 
made  by  General  Holt  at  the  White  House  on  the  morning 
of  the  execution,  when  Miss  Surratt  was  there  and  the 
President  had  refused  to  see  her  or  any  one  in  her  mother's 
behalf, — overruling,  also,  at  the  same  time,  Judge  Wylie's 


276  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

writ  of  habeas  corpus, — says,  "  I  shall  never  lose  the  im 
pression  made  upon  me  of  your  [General  Holt's]  deep  pity 
for  her  [Miss  Surratt]  and  of  the  pain  which  her  distress 
caused  you."  But  will  Mr.  Ford  or  any  other  of  General 
Holt's  persistent  calumniators  be  so  kind  as  to  state  why 
General  Holt  should  have  been  so  anxious  for  Mr.  Speed  to 
tell  the  whole  truth,  had  he  not  known,  beyond  the  remotest 
question,  that  it  would  have  been  conclusive  testimony  in 
his  favor  ?  Would  he  have  asked  Mr.  Speed  to  say  more 
than  he  did  say,  if  he  had  had  the  least  doubt  on  that  point  ? 
Surely  not. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  article  to  go  into  the  evi 
dence  regarding  Mrs.  Surratt's  guilt  or  innocence ;  but  I 
cannot  refrain  from  brief  comment  on  the  following  quota 
tion  from  Mr.  Ford's  article,  wherein,  referring  to  Mrs. 
Surratt,  he  says : 

"  The  very  man  of  God  who  shrived  her  soul  for  eternity  was  said  to 
be  constrained  to  promise  that  she  should  not  communicate  with  the 
world.  As  the  poor  martyr  walked  in  her  shroud  to  the  scaffold,  it  is 
also  said  that  she  begged  the  priest  by  her  side  to  let  her  tell  the  people 
1  she  was  innocent.'  She  was  told  that '  the  Church  was  permitted  only 
to  prepare  her  soul  for  eternity ;  that  already  she  was  dead  to  all  else.'  " 

This  looks  strange,  to  say  the  least ;  and  I  am  reminded 
by  it  that  it  was  just  this  which  the  late  John  M.  Brod- 
head,  Second  Comptroller  of  the  Treasury,  once  told  me 
was,  in  his  view,  conclusive  proof  of  Mrs.  Surratt's  guilt. 
He  believed  that,  had  not  the  priest  known  from  her  confes 
sion  that  she  was  guilty,  he  would  never  have  prohibited 
her  from  declaring  her  innocence,  but  would  himself  have 
insisted  on  it  to  the  last  moment.  One  thing  is  certain, 
there  was  no  man  living  who  more  firmly  believed  in  her 
guilty  participation  in  the  assassination  of  Abraham  Lin 
coln  than  President  Johnson,  who,  in  commenting  on  the 
appeals  made  to  him  for  clemency,  said  at  the  time  to  Eev. 
J.  George  Butler,  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Washington,  that 


HOLT  AND  THE  LINCOLN  CONSPIKATOES.          277 

"  he  could  not  be  moved ;  for,  in  his  own  significant  lan 
guage,  '  Mrs.  Surratt  kept  the  nest  that  hatched  the  egg'  '• 

I  have  observed  that  General  Holt  at  one  time  asked  for 
a  court  of  inquiry.  It  was  in  September,  1866.  In  his 
answer,  November  14,  1866,  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  Secretary 
of  War,  wrote  to  Brevet  Major-General  Holt,  Judge- Advo- 
vate-General,  as  follows : 

"  Your  letter  of  the  llth  of  September  applying  for  a  court  of  inquiry 
upon  certain  imputations  therein  mentioned  as  made  against  you,  of  offi 
cial  misconduct  in  relation  to  the  prosecution  of  Mrs.  Surratt  and  others 
charged  with  the  assassination  of  the  late  President,  Abraham  Lincoln, 
and  in  the  preparation  of  testimony  against  Jefferson  Davis  and  others, 
charged  with  complicity  in  said  crime,  has  been  submitted  to  the  Presi 
dent  (Johnson),  who  deems  it  unnecessary  for  your  vindication  to  order 
a  court  of  inquiry. 

"In  communicating  the  President's  decision,  it  is  proper  for  me  to 
express  my  own  conviction  that  all  charges  and  imputations  against  your 
official  conduct  are,  in  my  judgment,  groundless.  So  far  as  I  have  any 
knowledge  or  information,  your  official  duties  as  Judge-Advocate-General 
in  the  cases  referred  to,  and  in  all  others,  have  been  performed  fairly, 
justly,  and  with  distinguished  ability,  integrity,  and  patriotism,  and  in 
strict  conformity  with  the  requirements  of  your  high  office  and  the  obli 
gations  of  an  officer  and  a  gentleman." 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

[NOTE.— I  called  on  General  Joseph  Holt  to-day  (October  17,  1892), 
and  referring  to  the  false  charges  made  against  him  touching  the  trial 
and  execution  of  Mrs.  Surratt,  he  said,  "  That  summary  of  yours  (in  the 
Century  Magazine  for  April,  1890)  is  worth  everything  that  has  been  pub 
lished."]  H.  K. 


278  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 


CHAPTER    VII. 


The  Bursting  of  the  Big  Gun  on  the  Princeton — Five  Instantly  Killed 
and  Several  Wounded. 

THE  28th  of  February,  1844,  was  a  beautiful  day.  The 
United  States  steamer  Princeton,  Captain  li.  F.  Stockton, 
United  States  navy,  lay  off  Alexandria,  then  a  part  of  the 
District  of  Columbia ;  and,  proud  of  her  splendid  appear 
ance,  Captain  Stockton  had  issued  a  large  number  of  invi 
tations  for  a  grand  gala  day  in  an  excursion  down  the 
river. 

Never,  perhaps,  was  there  a  more  brilliant  and  delighted 
company  than  the  four  or  five  hundred  people  who  responded 
to  this  invitation.  It  embraced  the  very  elite  of  the  capital, 
of  both  sexes,  including  the  President  and  his  Cabinet,  Sen 
ators  and  Representatives,  foreign  ministers,  and  other  dis 
tinguished  citizens  and  temporary  residents. 

A  grand  collation  was  provided,  and  everything  arranged 
for  a  day  of  unalloyed  pleasure.  One  of  the  attractions  of 
the  occasion,  and  an  important  feature  in  the  vessel's  arma 
ment,  was  what  was  then  considered  an  extraordinarily 
large  gun,  recently  constructed,  and  carrying  a  ball  of  two 
hundred  and  twenty-five  pounds.  It  was  named  "  The 
Peacemaker." 

As  soon  as  the  company  was  well  on  board,  orders  were 
given  for  the  ship  to  start,  and  in  a  few  minutes  all  were 
sailing  gayly  and  joyously  toward  Mount  Vernon.  On  the 
passage  down,  this  immense  gun  was  discharged  two  or 
three  times  in  the  presence  of  the  crowd  of  visitors  who  lined 
the  deck.  The  trial  and  exhibition  were  entirely  satisfac 
tory,  and  it  was  near  four  in  the  afternoon  before  the  order 
was  given  to  return. 


THE  STORY  OF  "THE  PEACEMAKER."  279 

The  ladies  had  been  served  with  ample  refreshments  of 
the  choicest  kind,  and  the  gentlemen  next  found  room  at 
the  table.  The  vessel  was  now  opposite  Fort  Washington, 
when  Captain  Stockton  ordered  another  discharge  of  "  The 
Peacemaker,"  and  many  persons  took  positions  near  the 
gun,  better  to  witness  the  operation  of  firing.  Fortunately, 
the  ladies  were  all  between  decks,  and  a  large  part  of  the 
gentlemen  had  not  yet  left  the  lunch  table,  otherwise  many 
more  doubtless  might  have  been  on  the  gun-deck.  In 
stantly  upon  the  discharge,  and  before  the  smoke  had 
passed  off,  the  most  frightful  shrieks  and  groans  startled 
and  almost  paralyzed  every  living  being  on  board.  The 
gun  had  burst  into  many  pieces,  and  the  dead  and  wounded 
lay  prostrate  around  it. 

Death  had  chosen  shining  marks  for  his  fatal  arrows,  and 
those  who  were  instantly  killed  were  Mr.  Upshur,  Secretary 
of  State ;  Mr.  Gilmer,  Secretary  of  the  Navy  (both  from 
Virginia);  Commodore  Kennon,  of  the  navy;  Mr.  Virgil 
Maxey,  of  Maryland,  ex-minister  to  the  Hague ;  and  Mr. 
Gardner,  a  distinguished  citizen  of  New  York,  whose 
daughter  afterwards  became  the  second  wife  of  President 
Tyler,  and  presided  gracefully  at  the  White  House.  Among 
those  who  were  stunned  by  the  concussion  were  Senator 
Thomas  .H.  Benton,  Captain  Stockton  and  Lieutenant 
Hunt,  of  the  Princeton,  and  Mr.  W.  D.  Eobinson,  of 
Georgetown.  Seventeen  seamen  were  wounded  more  or 
less  seriously,  and  a  colored  servant  of  the  President  almost 
immediately  died  from  his  wounds.  The  wonder  was  that 
President  Tyler  escaped. 

Sorrowfully,  and  with  her  colors  at  half-mast,  the  Prince 
ton  slowly  continued  her  way  back  toward  Washington,  and 
when  the  news  of  the  terrible  disaster  reached  the  city,  the 
greatest  excitement  prevailed.  Never  before  had  such  a 
shock  been  felt  at  the  capital.  It  was  not  until  near  evening 
when  the  vessel  arrived  off  the  navy-yard,  and  the  bodies 
of  the  dead  statesmen  were  retained  on  board  overnight. 


280  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

The  next  morning,  being  placed  in  their  coffins,  they  were 
conveyed  in  solemn  procession  (during  the  progress  of 
which  minute-guns  were  fired)  to  the  President's  House, 
and  placed  in  the  East  Room,  where  thousands  on  thousands 
of  citizens  and  strangers  gathered  to  view  them.  I  can 
never  forget  the  impression  this  fearfully  sad  sight  made 
upon  me.  On  the  assembling  of  Congress  at  twelve  o'clock, 
the  President  sent  a  message  to  the  two  Houses,  referring 
in  appropriate  terms  to  the  terrible  disaster,  and  announcing 
the  death  of  the  two  secretaries  by  name.  Upon  the  read 
ing  of  the  message  in  the  Senate,  Mr.  William  C.  Rives 
made  a  short  address,  from  which  the  following  is  an  ex 
tract.  Said  he,  "  Surely,  Mr.  President,  never  in  the  mys 
terious  providences  of  God  has  a  day  on  earth  been  marked 
in  its  progress  by  such  startling  and  astounding  contrasts — 
opening  and  advancing  with  hilarity  and  joy,  mutual  con 
gratulations  and  patriotic  pride,  and  closing  in  scenes  of 
death  and  disaster,  of  lamentation  and  unutterable  woe. 
It  was  my  sad  fortune,  Mr.  President,  to  be  an  eye-witness 
of  these  never-to-be-forgotten  events.  If  I  had  language 
to  describe  them,  the  power  of  speech  would  fail  me." 

Mr.  Hopkins,  of  Virginia,  made  the  leading  speech  in  the 
House,  and  upon  the  adoption  of  resolutions  to  attend  the 
funeral,  etc.,  both  branches  adjourned  from  the .  29th  of 
February  till  Monday,  the  4th  of  March.  On  the  evening 
of  the  29th  of  February,  the  remains  of  Mr.  Maxey  were 
removed  to  the  house  of  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  Francis  Mar- 
koe,  and  thence,  on  the  following  morning,  to  the  family 
residence  in  Maryland. 

The  funeral  was  held  at  the  President's  House  on  the  2d 
of  March.  Assembling  in  their  respective  halls,  the  mem 
bers  of  the  Senate  and  House  proceeded  thence  in  a  body 
to  the  funeral,  the  religious  ceremonies  at  which  were  con 
ducted  by  Rev.  Mr.  Hawley,  of  St.  John's  church ;  Rev.  Dr. 
Laurie,  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  then  occupying 
the  building  since  converted  into  Willard's  Hall,  on  F 


THE  STORY  OF  "THE  PEACEMAKER."  281 

Street ;  and  Rev.  Mr.  Butler,  of  the  Trinity  church,  corner 
of  C  and  Third  Streets.  The  East  Room  was  filled  to  its 
utmost  capacity,  while  still  greater  crowds  assembled  in  the 
adjoining  halls  and  in  front  of  the  edifice  outside.  The 
funeral  escort  under  command  of  General  Scott  was  most 
imposing.  Besides  the  volunteer  troops  and  a  battalion  of 
marines,  there  was  a  squadron  of  cavalry,  troops  of  United 
States  artillery,  etc.,  and  many  officers  of  the  navy  as  well 
as  of  the  army.  There  were  pall-bearers  to  each  hearse. 
The  President  and  surviving  members  of  his  Cabinet,  the 
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  with  their  officers, 
foreign  ministers,  judges  of  the  courts,  and  officers  of  the 
executive  departments,  various  societies  and  private  citizens 
joined  in  the  procession  to  the  Congressional  Cemetery. 
Never  before,  probably,  except  on  the  occasion  of  President 
Harrison's  funeral,  in  April,  1841,  when  I  remember  Major- 
General  Macomb  was  in  command,  had  so  large  a  funeral 
procession  been  seen  at  the  capital. 

In  returning  from  the  cemetery,  the  President's  horses 
took  fright  near  the  Capitol,  and  ran  with  fearful  speed 
along  Pennsylvania  Avenue  a  distance  of  nearly  one  mile, 
when,  fortunately  without  collision,  they  were  finally  ar 
rested  by  a  resolute  colored  man,  and  the  distinguished 
occupants  of  the  carriage  escaped  unhurt. 

These  scenes  are  impressed  almost  as  vividly  on  my 
memory  as  though  they  were  of  yesterday.  I  might  go  to 
the  records  to  show  how  few  of  the  prominent  actors  in 
public  life  of  that  time  still  survive;  but  it  would  only  add 
another  mournful  shadow  to  the  picture. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 


282  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

MY  FIRST   AND   LAST   SIGHT   OP   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

His  Secret  Arrival  in  Washington— Calls  with  Seward  on  the  President 
and  Cabinet — Lee's  Surrender — Great  Rejoicing — The  Serenade — 
Star-Spangled  Banner  and  Dixie — The  President's  Speech. 

THERE  is  no  more  vivid  or  apparently  indelible  impres 
sion  on  the  tablet  of  my  memory  than  my  first  and  last 
sight  of  President  Lincoln;  and  the  circumstances  con 
nected  therewith  are  equally  well  remembered.  The  first 
occasion  was  when  he  called  on  President  Buchanan,  in 
company  with  Senator  Seward,  on  the  23d  of  February, 
1861,  and  the  last  was  when  he  excused  himself  from 
making  a  speech  at  the  Executive  Mansion  on  the  evening 
of  April  10, 1865,  the  next  day  after  Lee's  surrender. 

It  is  generally  known  that  Mr.  Lincoln  arrived  in  Wash 
ington,  unannounced,  several  hours  before  he  was  expected 
by  the  public  at  large.  It  was  supposed  that  he  would  rest 
at  Harrisburg  overnight,  and  probably  not  more  than  three 
or  four  persons  were  cognizant  of  his  intention  to  come 
directly  through  without  stopping.  Indeed,  it  was  stated 
at  the  time  that  he  kept  this  intention  entirely  to  himself, 
but  it  was  doubtless  known  to  his  travelling  companions, 
Mr.  Lamon,  afterwards  marshal  of  the  District  of  Colum 
bia,  and  Mr.  E.  J.  Allen,  as  well  as  to  Senator  Seward. 
None  of  the  railroad  officials  on  the  train,  either  from  Har 
risburg  to  Baltimore,  or  from  Baltimore  to  Washington, 
knew  he  was  on  board.  Great  preparations  for  his  recep 
tion  had  been  made,  both  at  Baltimore  and  Washington ; 
and  as  late  as  eleven  o'clock,  after  his  arrival  in  the  morn 
ing  of  the  23d,  active  preparations  were  in  progress  to  send 
the  contemplated  extra  train  for  hirn  to  Baltimore.  Shortly 
before  six  o'clock  of  that  morning,  somewhat  to  the  won- 


MY  FIRST  AND  LAST  SIGHT  OF  LINCOLN.          283 

der  of  the  few  around  at  that  early  hour,  Senator  Seward 
was  seen  waiting  at  Willard's  Hotel,  where  rooms  had  been 
quietly  engaged  for  Mr.  Lincoln  the  previous  day.  He  had 
not  long  to  wait  before  Mr.  Lincoln  arrived,  and  was  imme 
diately  escorted  to  his  rooms  by  Mr.  Seward,  who  left  him 
alone  for  rest.  At  nine  o'clock  A.M.,  Mr.  Lincoln  received 
his  breakfast  in  his  private  parlor,  and  his  presence  was  so 
little  known  in  the  city  that  it  was  one  o'clock  in  the  after 
noon  before  any  callers  came  to  see  him. 

About  eleven  in  the  morning,  in  company  with  Mr.  Sew 
ard,  Mr.  Lincoln  went  to  pay  his  respects  to  the  President. 
There  was  a  special  meeting  of  the  Cabinet  that  forenoon, 
and  it  was  in  session  when  the  door-keeper  came  in  and 
handed  the  President  a  card.  With  a  look  of  pleasant  sur 
prise,  Mr.  Buchanan  said,  "  Uncle  Abe  is  down-stairs  !"  and 
immediately  went  to  meet  him  in  the  Red  Room.*  In  the 
course  of  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  he  returned  with  Mr. 
Lincoln  and  Governor  Seward,  who  were  presented  to  the 
members  of  the  Cabinet,  and,  after  a  few  minutes'  conver 
sation  of  no  special  importance,  the  visitors  left  to  call  on 
General  Scott.  Although  I  was  living  in  Washington  while 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  member  of  Congress,  I  had  no  recollec 
tion  of  having  ever  seen  him  before.  I  was  at  once  struck 
by  his  tall,  lank  figure,  towering,  as  it  did,  almost  head  and 
shoulders  above  Senator  Seward,  and  even  overtopping 
President  Buchanan,  as  they  entered  the  room.  I  was 
equally  impressed,  also,  by  his  quiet,  unafiected  manner 
and  placid  disposition.  I  did  not  observe  in  him  the  least 
sign  of  nervousness  or  deep  concern ;  and  there  is  good 
reason  to  believe  that,  "  with  malice  towards  none,  with 
charity  for  all,"  he  felt  confident  of  being  able  to  gain  the 
good- will  of  the  Southern  malcontents  and  of  soon  bringing 
the  seceding  States  back  to  their  proper  relations  in  the 
Federal  Government.  The  Peace  Convention  was  then  in 

*  The  writer  was  one  of  the  members  of  President  Buchanan's  Cabinet 
at  the  time. 


284  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

session,  and  hopes  of  an  amicable  settlement  had  not  yet 
been  abandoned.  But,  alas !  alas ! !  Instead  of  allowing 
wisdom  to  assert  its  control,  the  madness  of  folly  bore  sway, 
and  for  four  long  years  the  country  was  deluged  in  blood ! 
The  news  of  Lee's  surrender  was  received  at  the  War 
Department  just  before  nine  o'clock  Sunday  evening,  the 
9th  of  April,  1865,  and  ere  the  dawn  of  day  the  citizens 
were  awakened  by  the  sound  of  cannon  proclaiming  the 
joyful  tidings.  Soon  crowds  of  people,  accompanied  by 
bands  of  music,  passed  through  the  streets,  singing  the 
"  Star-Spangled  Banner,"  "  Rally  Round  the  Flag,  Boys," 
and  other  patriotic  songs.  The  courts  met  and  adjourned, 
and  nearly  all  business  was  suspended.  The  clerks  in  the 
various  offices  were  dismissed  for  the  day,  and  hundreds  of 
them,  augmented  by  throngs  of  other  citizens,  gathered  on 
the  south  steps  and  sidewalk  of  the  Interior  Department, 
and  unitedly  raised  their  voices  to  the  grand  old  tune  of 
"  Old  Hundred"  in  singing 

"  Praise  God  from  whom  all  blessings  flow." 

Never  in  my  life  had  I  heard  those  words  sound  so  sweetly 
or  seem  to  touch  the  heart  so  tenderly.  I  was  on  my  way 
to  the  Post-Office  Department,  where  I  found  Postmaster- 
General  Dennison  in  the  main  hall  of  the  second  story 
making  a  congratulatory  address  to  a  crowd  assembled 
around  him.  About  ten  o'clock,  a  line,  composed  of 
nearly  two  thousand  persons,  mostly  from  the  Navy  Yard 
and  vicinity,  and  constantly  increasing,  passed  along  Penn 
sylvania  Avenue,  headed  by  the  Marine  Band,  and  with  two 
small  howitzers  in  the  rear,  which  were  fired  at  intervals. 
On  reaching  the  White  House,  after  several  airs  by  the  band, 
loud  calls  were  made  for  the  President,  when  he  shortly  ap 
peared  at  a  front  chamber  window,  and  was  greeted  with 
hearty  cheering.  The  band  now  struck  up  the  stirring 
tune  "  America,"  and  was  joined  vocally  in  the  words, 

"  My  country,  'tis  of  thee  I  sing," 


MY  FIRST  AND  LAST  SIGHT  OF  LINCOLN.          285 

by  the  assembled  multitude.  It  was  some  minutes  before 
order  was  restored,  when,  after  a  moment's  stillness,  Mr. 
Lincoln  said  : 

"  I  am  greatly  rejoiced,  my  friends,  that  an  occasion  has  occurred  on 
which  the  people  cannot  restrain  themselves.  I  suppose  arrangements 
are  being  made  to  appropriately  celebrate  this  glorious  event  this  evening 
or  to-morrow  evening.  I  will  have  nothing  to  say  then  if  it  is  all  drib 
bled  out  of  me  now.  I  see  you  have  a  band.  I  propose  having  this  inter 
view  closed  by  the  band  performing  a  patriotic  tune,  which  I  will  name. 
Before  this  is  done,  however,  I  wish  to  mention  one  or  two  little  circum 
stances  connected  with  it.  I  have  always  thought  that '  Diiie'  was  one 
of  the  best  tunes  I  had  ever  heard.  Our  adversaries  over  the  way,  I  know, 
have  attempted  to  appropriate  it.  [Applause.]  I  referred  the  question 
to  the  Attorney-General,  and  he  gives  it  as  his  legal  opinion  that  it  is 
now  our  property.  [Laughter  and  applause.]  I  now  ask  the  band  to 
favor  us  with  its  performance." 

The  band  responded  most  heartily,  to  the  delight  of  all 
present,  and  the  crowd  proceeded  to  call  on  Secretary  Stan- 
ton,  who  declined  speaking  on  the  plea  of  ill-health.  He, 
however,  introduced  General  Halleck,  who  said  : 

"  Always  ready  as  I  am  to  obey  the  orders  of  my  superior  officer,  the 
Honorable  Secretary  of  War,  I  hardly  think  he  will  go  so  far  as  to  require 
me  to  become  a  stump-speaker.  [Laughter,  cheers,  and  cries, '  The  people 
require  it ;  it  is  a  military  necessity  !']  Stump-speaking,  my  friends,  is 
something  in  which  I  have  never  indulged.  I  can  only  say  that  our 
congratulations  and  thanks  are  due  to  General  Grant  and  our  brave 
generals  and  soldiers  in  the  field  for  the  great  victory  announced  this 
morning,  and  for  the  blessing  of  peace,  of  which  it  is  the  harbinger." 
[Applause.] 

Secretary  Welles  was  next  called  on  at  his  house,  when 
he  appeared  and  merely  bowed  his  thanks  for  the  honor. 

About  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  several  hundred 
persons  assembled  in  and  around  the  portico  of  the  "White 
House  in  expectation  of  a  speech  from  the  President. 
After  repeated  calls,  Mr.  Lincoln  appeared  at  the  centre 
window  over  the  front  door,  and,  as  soon  as  the  cheering 
with  which  he  was  received  ceased,  he  spoke  substantially 
as  follows : 


286  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

"  I  appear,  my  friends,  in  response  to  your  call,  for  the  purpose  of  say 
ing  that  if  the  present  company  have  assembled  by  appointment,  there  is 
some  mistake.  More  or  less  people  have  been  gathered  all  day,  and  in 
the  exuberance  of  good  feeling — all  of  which  was  greatly  justifiable — 
have  called  on  me  to  say  something.  I  have  said  what  was  proper  to  be 
said  for  the  present.  Some  mistake  has  crept  into  the  understanding,  if 
you  think  a  meeting  was  appointed  for  this  evening.  [Voices  :  'We  want 
to  hear  you  now.']  I  have  appeared  before  larger  audiences  than  the 
present  during  the  day,  and  have  said  to  them  what  I  now  desire  to 
repeat.  With  reference  to  the  great  good  news,  I  suppose  there  is  to  be 
some  further  demonstration,  and  perhaps  to-morrow  would  suit  me  better 
than  now,  as  in  that  case  I  should  be  better  prepared.  I  would  therefore 
say  that  I  am  willing,  and  hope  to  be  ready,  to  say  something  then.  [Ap 
plause.]  Occupying  the  position  I  do,  I  think  I  ought  to  be  particular, 
as  all  I  say  gets  into  print.  A  mistake  hurts  you  and  the  country,  and  I 
try  not  to  make  mistakes.  [A  voice  :  '  You  have  never  made  any.']  If 
agreeable  to  have  a  general  demonstration  to-morrow  evening,  I  will  try 
and  say  something,  in  which,  at  least,  I  shall  be  careful  to  avoid  making 
any  mistakes." 

Thanking  those  present  for  the  call,  the  President  bade 
them  good-night,  and  retired  amid  the  cheers  of  the  assem 
blage.  I  never  saw  him  again.  Throughout  this  brief 
address  his  face  wore  a  benignant  and  satisfied  expression, 
which  told  plainly  of  the  unspeakable  relief  the  surrender 
of  Lee  had  brought  to  him.  I  could  but  remark  the  great 
change  from  his  usually  sad  look  to  one,  I  might  say,  almost 
angelic ;  and  I  am  fortunate  to  possess  his  photograph  taken 
while  in  this  happy  state  of  mind  at  that  time.  He  deliv 
ered  his  contemplated  speech  to  an  immense  crowd  on  the 
following  evening — his  last  public  address  on  earth. 


DUEL  BETWEEN  CILLEY  AND  GRAVES.  287 


CHAPTER    IX. 

HISTORY   OF   THE   DUEL   BETWEEN   JONATHAN   CILLEY  AND 
WILLIAM   J.  GRAVES. 

THE  report,  not  long  ago,  that  Major  William  Preston 
Graves  was  "  dying  at  Little  Rock,  where  he  had  been  sta 
tioned  with  his  regiment,  the  Second  Artillery,  the  past  two 
years,"  recalls  the  deplorable  duel  in  which  Jonathan  Cilley, 
of  Maine,  fell  at  the  hands  of  Major  Graves's  father,  the 
late  William  J.  Graves,  of  Kentucky,  on  the  24th  of  Feb 
ruary,  1838.  The  report  goes  on  to  say,  truly,  that,  "  next 
to  the  duel  between  Alexander  Hamilton  and  Aaron  Burr, 
no  event  of  the  character  ever  attracted  more  attention,  and 
it  might  have  said  greater  condemnation,  than  that  between 
Graves  and  Cilley."  It  also  repeats  what  was  erroneously 
stated  at  the  time,  and  which  has  been  repeatedly  denied 
from  certain  knowledge,  that  "  Cilley  was  noted  as  one  of 
the  most  skilful  shots  of  the  day."  I  shall  have  occasion 
to  refer  again  to  this  assertion.  When  this  unnatural  com 
bat  took  place,  I  resided  in  my  native  State  of  Maine,  and 
was  at  Augusta,  where  the  Maine  Legislature  was  in  ses 
sion,  when  the  news  of  Mr.  Cilley's  death  was  received.  I 
well  remember  the  wide-spread  excitement  and  condemna 
tion  which  immediately  followed.  Few  people  are  now 
living  who  shared  in  or  were  witnesses  to  that  excitement, 
and  who  remember  the  circumstances  leading  to  and  attend 
ing  that  appalling  tragedy. 

Some  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  ago  I  prepared  an  account 
of  it,  which  the  late  ex-Governor  of  Maine,  H.  J.  Ander 
son,  who  was  familiar  with  all  the  facts,  pronounced  the 
most  complete  ever  written  of  the  whole  affair ;  but  unfor 
tunately  it  was  printed  in  a  local  magazine  that  never 
reached  its  second  number.  As  it  would  be  new  to  the 


288  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

majority  of  readers  now,  and  could  hardly  fail  to  possess  a 
melancholy  interest  for  all,  I  propose  to  reproduce  it  in 
substance,  adhering  strictly  to  the  facts  of  the  narrative  as 
originally  presented. 

Both  combatants  were  representatives  in  Congress,  and 
hitherto  they  had  been  warm  personal  friends,  notwith 
standing  Cilley  was  a  Democrat  and  Graves  a  Whig.  A 
charge  of  corruption  against  a  Senator  in  Congress,  made 
by  "  The  Spy  in  Washington,"  Matthew  L.  Davis,  corre 
spondent  of  the  New  York  Courier  and  Enquirer,  was  the 
basis  of  the  trouble  which  led  to  the  fatal  rencounter.  He 
was  the  intimate  friend  and  biographer  of  Aaron  Burr,  and 
while  acting  as  correspondent  at  the  capital,  he  was  ex 
cluded,  I  remember,  from  the  ladies'  gallery  on  account  of 
alleged  gross  immorality  there.  In  a  letter  to  his  paper  the 
charge  referred  to  was  set  forth  as  follows : 

"  The  more  brief  my  statement  the  better  it  will  be  understood.  It  is 
in  my  power,  if  brought  to  the  bar  of  either  house,  or  before  a  com 
mittee,  and  process  allowed  me  to  compel  the  attendance  of  witnesses,  to 
prove  by  the  oath  of  a  respectable  and  unimpeachable  citizen,  as  well  as 
by  written  documentary  evidence,  that  there  is  at  least  one  member  of 
Congress  who  has  offered  to  barter  his  services  and  his  influence  with  a 
department  or  departments  for  a  compensation.  '  Why,  sir,'  said  the 
applicant  for  a  contract,  '  if  my  proposition  has  merit,  it  will  be  received  ; 
if  it  has  not,  I  do  not  expect  it  will  be  accepted.'  And  what  do  you 
think  was  the  answer  of  the  honorable  member  ?  I  will  give  it  to  you  in 
his  own  emphatic  language :  '  Merit  ?'  said  he  ;  '  why,  things  do  not  go 
here  by  merit,  but  by  pulling  the  right  strings.  Make  it  my  interest  and 
I  will  pull  the  strings  for  you.'  " 

The  editor  of  the  Courier  and  Enquirer,  James  Watson 
Webb,  vouched  for  the  character  and  standing  of  his  cor 
respondent,  and  called  upon  Congress  promptly  to  initiate 
the  investigation  thus  challenged,  both  as  an  act  of  justice 
to  itself  and  the  country.  Whereupon  Henry  A.  Wise, 
of  Virginia,  offered  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  on  the 
12th  of  February,  a  motion  for  a  committee  of  inquiry, 


DUEL  BETWEEN  CILLEY  AND  GRAVES.  289 

embodying  in  the  preamble  of  his  resolution  both  the  above 
extract  arid  the  editorial  comments  thereon.  The  resolu 
tion  gave  rise  to  a  warm  debate,  and  resulted  in  a  deter 
mination  to  bring  Mr.  Davis  before  the  bar  of  the  House. 
He  appeared  accordingly,  and,  having  declared  that  the  per 
son  alluded  to  in  his  letter  was  not  a  member  of  the  House, 
he  was  discharged. 

On  the  13th  of  February,  John  Buggies,  Senator  from 
Maine,  addressed  a  letter  to  the  Washington  Globe,  stating 
that  he  had  been  informed  that  the  charge  referred  to  "  was 
a  blow  aimed  at  him."  In  explanation,  he  said  that  a  Mr. 
Jones,  of  New  Jersey,  had  applied  to  him  to  draw  up  a 
specification  and  claim  for  a  patent  for  a  trunk- lock.  He 
had  consented  to  do  it,  "  as  it  was  a  strictly  professional 
matter."  Subsequently  he  had  agreed  to  take  an  assign 
ment  of  one-fourth  part  of  the  patent  for  his  services;  the 
papers  were  drawn  and  assented  to  by  Jones,  but  never 
executed,  nor  had  any  compensation  ever  been  allowed  for 
his  services. 

On  the  16th  of  February,  at  Mr.  Ruggles's  request,  a 
committee  to  investigate  the  charge  against  him  was  ap 
pointed  in  the  Senate,  and  he  was  entirely  exonerated. 

In  the  debate  on  Mr.  Wise's  resolution,  Mr.  Cilley  said : 

"  As  the  course  proposed  to  be  pursued  on  this  occasion  was  novel  and 
extraordinary,  he  hoped  the  House  would  pause  before  it  embarked  in 
this  business  on  such  authority  as  was  produced.  This  charge  comes  from 
the  editor  of  a  newspaper,  and  we  all  know  that  in  a  country  where  the 
press  is  free,  few  men  can  expect  to  escape  abuse  and  charges  of  a  similar 
description.  Ordinarily,  when  we  are  about  entering  upon  a  business 
of  this  kind  before  a  magistrate,  a  conservator  of  the  peace,  the  charges 
submitted  are  obliged  to  be  made  distinctly,  clearly,  and  under  the 
solemnity  of  an  oath ;  and  why  should  we  now  depart  from  this  well- 
known  and  well-settled  rule  ?  He  knew  nothing  of  this  editor,  but  it 
was  the  same  editor  who  had  made  grave  charges  against  an  institution 
of  this  country  (the  old  United  States  Bank  in  1831),  and  afterwards  was 
said  to  have  received  facilities  to  the  amount  of  fifty-two  thousand  dol 
lars  from  the  same  institution  and  gave  it  his  hearty  support ;  he  did  not 

19 


290  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

think  his  charges  were  entitled  to  much  credit  in  an  American  Congress. 
If  he  has  charges  to  make,  let  him  make  them  distinctly  and  not 
vaguely ;  let  him  make  them  under  the  solemnity  of  an  oath,  and  then 
it  will  be  quite  time  enough  to  act.  He  trusted  the  House  would  not 
go  into  an  investigation  of  this  kind  on  a  mere  newspaper  statement 
without  any  proof." 

It  was  the  subject  of  pointed  comment  at  the  time  that, 
whereas,  the  remarks  of  Mr.  Cilley  were  published  in  the 
Globe  of  the  12th,  Mr.  Webb  waited  until  the  21st  of  Feb 
ruary  before  demanding  an  explanation.  Therefore,  the 
presumption  was,  and  it  was  distinctly  charged,  that  "  the 
offence  was  taken  at  Washington,  the  plot  arranged  there, 
and  Mr.  Webb  sent  for,  after  full  consultation,  and  notified 
that  he  must  take  offence  at  Mr.  Cilley's  remarks.  This 
supposition  was  the  more  readily  credited  not  only  because 
the  same  imputation  against  Mr.  Webb  had  "  been  thou 
sands  of  times  made  on  innumerable  occasions  in  Congress" 
without  his  ever  resenting  it  in  any  such  manner,  but  also 
from  the  fact  that  Mr.  Cilley's  ability  and  fearless  bearing 
in  debate  had  aroused  a  determination  on  the  part  of  certain 
Southern  gentlemen,  if  possible,  to  intimidate  him  and 
destroy  his  influence.  As  an  illustration  of  this  feeling  the 
following  extract  from  the  Democratic  Review  is  in  point. 
Referring  to  the  discussion  upon  Mr.  Wise's  resolution, 
above  mentioned,  the  editor,  J.  L.  O'Sullivan,  afterwards 
United  States  minister  to  Portugal,  and  who,  I  am  glad  to 
know,  still  survives,  said  : 

"  An  altercation  of  a  very  acrimonious  character  on  the  part  of  Mr. 
Wise  arose  upon  this  occasion.  In  reply  to  Mr.  Cilley,  Mr.  Wise,  among 
general  remarks  upon  the  opposition  of  the  friends  of  the  administration 
to  all  investigation  without  specific  charges,  etc.,  remarked,  '  Every  man 
careful  of  his  honor,  when  such  charges  as  these  are  made,  will  not  wait 
to  have  them  specifically  framed,'  and  in  the  present  instance  he  would 
say  to  the  gentleman  from  Maine  that  a  member  of  the  party  (Demo 
cratic)  to  which  that  gentleman  belongs  should  be  the  last  man  to  oppose 
the  investigation  of  a  charge  like  this,  for  it  was  much  more  likely  to  be 
him  that  was  meant  by  the  author  of  the  charge  than  himself  (Mr.  W.). 


DUEL  BETWEEN  CILLEY  AND  GRAVES.  291 

1 1,  sir,'  said  Mr.  Wise,  '  have  no  influence  with  the  executive  or  any  of 
its  branches,  to  sell  for  a  price,'  "  etc. 

Afterwards,  in  the  course  of  the  debate,  the  following  alter 
cation  took  place,  as  we  find  it  reported  in  the  Intelligencer  : 

" '  But  now,  because  he  (Mr.  C.)  had  stood  up  to  defend  the  character 
of  the  House  against  that  anonymous  imputation,  he  was  to  hear  the 
basest  charges  against  himself. 

" '  Mr.  Wise  here  asked  if  the  gentleman  from  Maine  meant  to  say 
that  he  (Mr.  W.)  had  made  base  charges  in  relation  to  himself? 

"  '  Mr.  Cilley  would  explain.  He  did  feel  that  it  was  ungenerous  for 
that  gentleman  to  have  said  that  the  presumption  was  rather  that  it  was 
he  (Mr.  C.)  than  himself  (Mr.  W.)  to  whom  this  charge  alluded. 

" '  Mr.  Wise  had  made  no  personal  charge  against  the  member  from 
Maine,  false  or  true,  none  whatever ;  and  he  again  asked  that  gentleman 
if  he  meant  to  say  that  he  had  insinuated  base  charges  against  him. 

"  '  Mr.  Cilley  responded  in  substance  what  he  had  said. 

" '  Mr.  Wise.  Then  the  gentleman  from  Maine  designs  deliberately  to 
insult  me. 

" '  Mr.  Cilley  certainly  did  not ;  he  had  not  made  any  charge  against 
the  gentleman  from  Virginia.  He  knew  his  rights  and  those  of  his  con 
stituents  on  that  floor. 

"  '  Mr.  Wise  understood,  and  did  not  understand  the  gentleman  from 
Maine  as  disclaiming  the  charge,  that  he  had  made  base  charges  against 
that  gentleman. 

"  '  Mr.  Cilley  said  that  he  had  distinctly  remarked  that  the  gentleman 
from  Virginia  had  said  he  (Mr.  C.)  was  more  obnoxious  to  the  charge 
contained  in  the  resolution  before  the  House  than  he  (Mr.  W.)  was ;  and 
he  could  say  no  less  than  he  had  said,  fearless  of  all  consequences,  but 
he  had  no  intention  to  insult  any  one.  The  gentleman  from  Virginia 
just  remarked  that  he  had  been  informed  of  the  name  of  the  member 
alluded  to ;  why  not  disclose  it  ? 

"  '  Mr.  Wise  rose  and  said  that  he  could  never  again  treat  that  gentle 
man  with  confidence  who  could  rise  in  his  place  and  repeat  to  the  House 
what  a  member  had  said  in  private  conversation  in  his  seat. 

"  '  Mr.  Cilley  had  not  intended  to  violate  confidence.  The  gentleman 
from  Virginia  had  said  openly  in  his  seat  that  he  knew  the  name  of  the 
member  meant. 

"  '  Mr.  Wise.  But  it  was  in  reply  to  an  express  question  of  another 
member. 

"  '  Some  farther  explanation  then  took  place  between  Mr.  Cilley  and 
Mr.  Wise,'  etc. 


292  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

"  The  report  of  it  is  here  cut  off.  Mr.  Cilley  sustained  himself  with 
perfect  firmness  and  dignity  to  the  end,  his  manner  being,  according  to 
our  information,  in  highly  advantageous  contrast  with  that  of  his  assail 
ant.  The  latter  concluded  by  the  following  remark,  spoken  so  openly  and 
loud  as  to  be  heard  at  some  distance,  a  remark  which  Mr.  Cilley  never 
affected  to  notice  or  to  hear :  '  But  what  is  the  use  of  bandying  words 
with  a  man  who  won't  hold  himself  personally  accountable  for  his 
words?'" 

Fully  to  appreciate  this  scene,  one  needs  to  have  known 
its  principal  actors  and  observed  the  calm,  firm,  and  digni 
fied  manner  of  Cilley  in  contrast  with  the  fierce  look  and 
aggressive  bearing  of  his  opponent,  as  the  writer  more  than 
once  saw  him  in  debate  in  the  House  during  the  winter  of 
1838-39,  while  Graves,  looking  sad  and  desponding,  was 
also  still  a  member  of  that  body. 

We  will  next  present  the  correspondence,  etc.,  as  it 
appeared  in  a  paper  signed  by  the  seconds  in  the  duel, 
George  W.  Jones,  of  Iowa,  and  Henry  A.  Wise,  of  Vir 
ginia,  which  they  published  as  their 

"STATEMENT. 

"  WASHINGTON  CITY,  D.  C.,  February  26,  1838. 

"  The  following  is  a  statement  of  the  facts  of  the  duel  between  the 
Honorable  William  J.  Graves,  of  Kentucky,  and  the  Honorable  Jona 
than  Cilley,  of  Maine,  agreed  upon  by  George  W.  Jones  and  Henry  A. 
Wise,  the  seconds  of  the  parties,  committed  to  writing  between  the 
hours  of  10.30  o'clock  A.M.,  February  25th,  and  12  o'clock  M.  this  day. 
The  seconds  propose,  first,  to  state  the  correspondence  which  occurred 
before  the  challenge  and  which  was  communicated  through  others  than 
themselves,  neither  second  having  borne  any  message,  verbal  or  written, 
to  or  from  either  of  the  principals,  until  Mr.  Wise  bore  the  challenge 
and  Mr.  Jones  bore  the  acceptance.  This  correspondence,  as  it  has  been 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  seconds,  is  as  follows,  to  wit : 

"  Mr.  Graves  to  Mr.  Cilley. 

"  HOUSE  OF  KEPRESENTATIVES,  February  21,  1838. 
"  In  the  interview  which  I  had  with  you  this  morning,  when  you  de 
clined  receiving  from  me  the  note  of  Colonel  J.  W.  Webb,  asking  whether 
you  were  correctly  reported  in  the  Globe  in  what  you  are  there  repre 
sented  to  have  said  of  him  in  this  House  upon  the  12th  instant,  you  will 


DUEL  BETWEEN  CILLEY  AND  GRAVES.  293 

please  say  whether  you  did  not  remark,  in  substance,  that  in  declining  to 
receive  the  note,  you  hoped  I  would  not  consider  it  in  any  respect  disre 
spectful  to  me,  and  that  the  ground  on  which  you  rested  your  declining 
to  receive  the  note  was  distinctly  this :  That  you  could  not  consent  to  get 
yourself  into  personal  difficulties  with  conductors  of  public  journals  for 
what  you  might  think  proper  to  say  in  debate  upon  this  floor,  in  dis 
charge  of  your  duties  as  a  representative  of  the  people,  and  that  you  did 
not  rest  your  objection  in  our  interview  upon  any  personal  objection  to 
Colonel  Webb  as  a  gentleman. 

"  Very  respectfully  your  obedient  servant, 

"  W.  J.  GRAVES. 
"HONORABLE  JONATHAN  CILLEY. 

"  Mr.  Cilley  to  Mr.  Graves. 

"  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  February  21,  1838. 

"  The  note  which  you  just  placed  in  my  hands  has  been  received.     In 

reply  I  have  to  state  that  in  your  interview  with  me  this  morning,  when 

you  proposed  to  deliver  a  communication  from  Colonel  Webb,  of  the 

New  York  Courier  and  Enquirer,  I  declined  to  receive  it  because  I  chose 

to  be  drawn  into  no  controversy  with  him.     I  neither  affirmed  nor  denied 

anything  in  regard  to  his  character ;  but  when  you  remarked  that  this 

course  on  my  part  might  place  you  in  an  unpleasant  situation,  I  stated  to 

you,  and  now  repeat,  that  I  intended  by  the  refusal  no  disrespect  to  you. 

"  Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"JONA.  CILLEY. 
"  HONORABLE  W.  J.  GRAVES. 

"Mr.  Graves  to  Mr.  Cilley. 

"  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  February  22,  1838. 
"  SIR, — Your  note  of  yesterday,  in  reply  to  mine  of  that  date,  is  inex 
plicit,  unsatisfactory,  and  insufficient ;  among  other  things  in  this,  that  in 
your  declining  to  receive  Colonel  Webb's  communication,  it  does  not  dis 
claim  any  exception  to  him  personally  as  a  gentleman.  I  have  therefore 
to  inquire  whether  you  declined  to  receive  his  communication  on  the 
ground  of  any  personal  exception  to  him  as  a  gentleman  or  a  man  of 
honor  ?  A  categorical  answer  is  expected. 

"  Very  respectfully, 

"WILLIAM  J.  GRAVES. 
"  HONORABLE  J.  CILLEY. 

"  Mr.  Cilley  to  Mr.  Graves. 

"  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  February  22,  1838. 
"  SIR, — Your  note  of  this  date  has  just  been  placed  in  my  hands.     I 
regret  that  mine  of  yesterday  was  not  satisfactory  to  you,  but  I  cannot 


294  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

admit  the  right  on  your  part  to  propound  the  question  to  which  you  ask 
a  categorical  answer,  and  therefore  decline  any  further  reponse  to  it. 

"  Very  respectfully, 

"JONATHAN  CILLEY. 
"  HONORABLE  W.  J.  GRAVES. 

"  Here  follows  the  first  paper  borne  by  Mr.  Wise  : 

"  As  you  have  declined  accepting  a  communication  which  I  bore  to  you 
from  Colonel  Webb,  and  as,  by  your  note  of  yesterday,  you  have  refused 
to  decline  on  grounds  which  would  exonerate  me  from  all  responsibility 
growing  out  of  the  affair,  I  am  left  no  other  alternative  but  to  ask  that 
satisfaction  which  is  recognized  among  gentlemen.  My  friend,  Honor 
able  Henry  A.  Wise,  is  authorized  by  me  to  make  the  arrangements  suit 
able  for  the  occasion. 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"W.  J.  GRAVES. 
"  HONORABLE  J.  CILLEY. 

"Mr.  Wise  states  that  he  presented  the  foregoing  challenge  to  Mr. 
Cilley  in  the  parlor  at  Mr.  Birth's  boarding-house  a  few  minutes  before 
twelve  o'clock,  on  Friday,  the  twenty- third  instant. 

"  In  addition  to  the  foregoing  correspondence  the  seconds  propose 
to  relate  only  such  facts  and  circumstances  as  occurred  within  their  joint 
knowledge,  after  their  own  participation  in  the  melancholy  affair. 

"  On  the  evening  of  the  twenty-third  instant,  about  the  hour  of  five 
o'clock,  Mr.  Jones,  the  second  of  Mr.  Cilley,  delivered  to  Mr.  Graves  in 
the  room  of  Mr.  Wise,  and  in  his  presence,  the  following  note,  which  was 
the  first  paper  borne  by  Mr.  Jones,  to  wit  : 

"  WASHINGTON  CITY,  February  23,  1838. 
"  HONORABLE  W.  J.  GRAVES  : 

"  Your  note  of  this  morning  has  been  received.  My  friend,  General 
Jones,  will  '  make  the  arrangements  suitable  to  the  occasion.' 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"JONA.  CILLEY. 

"  Immediately  upon  the  preparation  of  the  acceptance  of  the  challenge, 
Mr.  Graves  retired,  leaving  Mr.  Jones  with  Mr.  Wise,  who  submitted  to 
Mr.  Wise  the  following  propositions  for  the  arrangement  of  the  meeting, 
to  wit: 

"  WASHINGTON  CITY,  February  23,  1838. 

"  SIR, — Mr.  Cilley  proposes  to  meet  Mr.  Graves  at  such  place  as  may 
be  agreed  upon  between  us  to-morrow  at  twelve  o'clock  M.  The  weapons 


DUEL  BETWEEN  CILLEY  AND  GRAVES.  295 

to  be  used  on  the  occasion  shall  be  rifles  ;  the  parties  placed  side  to  side 
at  eighty  yards  distance  from  each  other ;  to  hold  the  rifles  horizontally 
at  arm's  length  downward  ;  the  rifles  to  be  cocked  and  triggers  set ;  the 
word  to  be,  '  Gentlemen,  are  you  ready  ?'  after  which,  neither  answering 
'  no,'  the  words  shall  be  in  regular  succession,  '  Fire,  one,  two,  three, 
four.'  Neither  party  shall  fire  before  the  word  '  fire,'  nor  after  the  word 
*  four.'  The  positions  of  the  parties  at  the  ends  of  the  line  to  be  deter 
mined  by  lot.  The  second  of  the  party  losing  the  position  shall  have  the 
giving  of  the  word.  The  dress  to  be  ordinary  winter  clothing  and  sub 
ject  to  the  examination  of  both  parties.  Each  party  may  have  on  the 
ground,  besides  his  second,  a  surgeon  and  two  other  friends.  The  seconds, 
for  the  execution  of  their  respective  trusts,  are  allowed  to  have  a  pair  of 
pistols  each  on  the  ground,  but  no  other  persons  shall  have  any  weapon. 
The  rifles  to  be  loaded  in  the  presence  of  the  seconds.  Should  Mr. 
Graves  not  be  able  to  procure  a  rifle  in  the  time  prescribed,  time  shall  be 
allowed  for  that  purpose. 

"  Your  very  obedient  servant, 

"GEORGE  W.  JONES. 
"  HONORABLE  HENRY  A.  WISE. 

"  About  nine  o'clock  P.M.,  at  Mr.  Jones's  room  at  Dawson's,  Mr.  Wise 
returned  to  him  the  following  answer,  to  wit : 

"  WASHINGTON  CITY,  February  23, 1838. 

"  SIR, — The  terms  arranging  the  meeting  between  Mr.  Graves  and  Mr. 
Cilley,  which  you  presented  to  me  this  evening,  though  unusual  and 
objectionable,  are  accepted  with  the  understanding  that  the  rifles  are  to 
be  loaded  with  a  single  ball,  and  that  neither  party  is  to  raise  his  weapon 
from  the  downward  horizontal  position  until  the  word  '  fire.' 

"  I  will  inform  you,  sir,  by  the  hour  of  eleven  o'clock  A.M.  to-morrow 
whether  Mr.  Graves  has  been  able  to  procure  a  rifle,  and,  consequently, 
whether  he  will  require  a  postponement  of  the  time  of  meeting. 

"  Your  very  obedient  servant, 

"  HENRY  A.  WISE. 
"  HONORABLE  GEORGE  W.  JONES. 

"  About  eight  o'clock  A.M.  on  the  twenty-fourth  instant,  Mr.  Jones  left 
at  Mr.  Wise's  room  the  following  note,  to  wit : 

"  WASHINGTON  CITY,  February  24,  1838. 

"  SIR, — I  will  receive  at  Dr.  Reilly's,  on  F  Street,  any  communication 
you  may  see  proper  to  make  me  until  eleven  o'clock  A.M.,  to-day. 
"  Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"GEORGE  W.  JONES. 
"  HONORABLE  H.  A.  WISE. 


296  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

"  DR.  REILLY'S,  F  STREET,  February  24,  1838,  10  A.M. 
"  SIR, — I  have  called  at  this  place  in  conformity  to  your  note  of  this 
morning,  to  inform  you  that  Mr.  Graves  has  not  as  yet  been  able  to  pro 
cure  a  rifle  and  put  it  in  order,  and  cannot  be  ready  by  twelve  o'clock  M. 
to-day.  He  is  desirous,  however,  to  have  the  meeting  to-day,  if  possible, 
and  I  will  inform  you  by  half-past  twelve  o'clock  M.  to-day  what  time  he 
will  require  to  procure  and  prepare  a  weapon. 

"  Very  respectfully,  etc., 

"HENRY  A.  WISE. 
"HONORABLE  GEORGE  W.  JONES. 

"  Afterwards  Mr.  Jones  left  at  Mr.  Wise's  room  the  following  note,  to 
wit: 

"  WASHINGTON,  10.30  A.M.,  February  24,  1838. 

"  SIR, — Your  note,  dated  at  ten  o'clock  to-day,  is  received.  In  reply 
I  have  the  pleasure  to  inform  you  that  I  have  in  my  possession  an  excel 
lent  rifle,  in  good  order,  which  is  at  the  service  of  Mr.  Graves. 

"  Very  respectfully,  etc., 

"  GEORGE  W.  JONES. 
"  HONORABLE  H.  A.  WISE. 

"  Afterwards  Mr.  Jones  sent  to  Mr.  Wise's  room  the  following  note, 
to  wit : 

"  WASHINGTON,  February  24,  1838,  11  A.M. 

"SlR, — Through  the  politeness  of  my  friend  Dr.  Duncan,  I  now 
tender  to  you,  for  the  use  of  Mr.  Graves,  the  rifle  referred  to  in  my  note 
of  ten  o'clock  this  morning. 

"  Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"  GEORGE  W.  JONES. 
"  HONORABLE  H.  A.  WISE. 

"  And  with  this  note  a  rifle  and  powder-flask  and  balls  were  left  at  Mr. 
Wise's  room. 

"  After  the  reception  of  this  note  from  Mr.  Jones,  Mr.  Wise  called  on 
him  at  Dr.  Reilly's  and  informed  Mr.  Jones  that  Mr.  Graves  had  pro 
cured  a  rifle  other  than  that  left  at  his  room  by  Dr.  Duncan,  and  would 
be  ready  for  the  meeting  at  three  o'clock  P.M.  It  was  then  agreed  that 
the  parties  should  meet  at  the  Anacostia  bridge,  on  the  road  to  Marl- 
borough,  Maryland,  between  the  hours  of  half-past  one  and  half-past  two 
o'clock  P.M.,  and  if  either  got  there  first  he  should  wait  for  the  other, 
and  that  they  would  thence  proceed  out  of  the  District.  Accordingly 
the  parties  met  at  the  bridge,  Mr.  Cilley  and  his  party  arriving  there 


DUEL  BETWEEN  CILLEY  AND  GRAVES.  297 

first,  and  all  proceeded,  about  two  o'clock  P.M.,  to  the  place  of  meeting. 
On  arriving  at  the  place,  Mr.  Jones  and  Mr.  Wise  immediately  proceeded 
to  mark  off  the  ground.  They  then  decided  the  choice  of  positions. 
Mr.  Wise  won  the  position,  and  consequently  Mr.  Jones  had  the  giving 
of  the  word.  At  the  time  Mr.  Jones  was  informed  by  Mr.  Wise  that 
two  gentlemen  (Mr.  Calhoun,  of  Kentucky,  and  Mr.  Hawes,  of  Ken 
tucky)  were  at  some  distance  off,  spectators,  but  they  should  not  approach 
upon  the  ground.  Mr.  Jones  replied  that  he  objected  to  their  coming 
on  the  ground,  as  it  was  against  the  articles  of  the  meeting,  but  he  enter 
tained  for  them  the  highest  respect.  Mr.  Wise  informed  Mr.  Jones  that, 
contrary  to  the  terms,  he  had  brought  on  the  ground  two  rifles ;  that  if 
he  (Mr.  Jones)  required  him  to  do  so,  he  would  immediately  send  one 
of  them  away.  Upon  Mr.  Jones  finding  that  the  rifle  was  unloaded,  he 
consented  that  it  should  remain  in  one  of  the  carriages.  There  were,  it 
is  proper  to  remark,  several  persons  on  the  ground  (besides  the  hack- 
drivers  and  the  two  gentlemen  at  a  distance  before  mentioned)  who  were 
there  without  the  authority  or  consent  of  either  party  or  their  friends, 
as  far  as  is  known  either  to  Mr.  Jones  or  Mr.  Wise,  and  one  of  these 
persons  was  supposed  to  be  the  owner  of  the  field.  Shortly  after  the 
hour  of  three  P.M.  the  rifles  were  loaded  in  the  presence  of  the  seconds ; 
the  parties  were  called  together ;  they  were  fully  instructed  by  Mr.  Jones 
as  to  their  positions,  and  the  words  were  twice  repeated  to  them  as  they 
would  be  and  as  they  were  delivered  to  them  in  the  exchange  of  shots. 
After  they  were  ordered  to  their  respective  positions,  the  seconds  assumed 
their  places,  and  the  friends  accompanying  the  seconds  were  disposed 
along  the  line  of  fire  to  observe  that  each  obeyed  the  terms  of  meeting. 
Mr.  Jones  gave  the  word  distinctly,  audibly,  and  in  regular  succession, 
and  the  parties  exchanged  shots  without  violating  in  the  least  a  single 
instruction.  They  both  missed.  After  which  Mr.  Wise  called  upon  the 
friends  generally  to  assemble  and  hear  what  was  to  be  said.  Upon  the 
assembling  of  the  friends,  Mr.  Jones  inquired  of  Mr.  Wise  whether  his 
friend  (Mr.  Graves)  was  satisfied.  Mr.  Wise  immediately  said  in  sub 
stance,  *  Mr.  Jones,  these  gentlemen  have  come  here  without  animosity 
towards  each  other ;  they  are  fighting  merely  upon  a  point  of  honor ; 
cannot  Mr.  Cilley  assign  some  reason  for  not  receiving  at  Mr.  Graves's 
hands  Colonel  Webb's  communication,  or  make  some  disclaimer  which 
will  relieve  Mr.  Graves  from  his  position  ?'  Mr.  Jones  replied,  in  sub 
stance,  '  Whilst  the  challenge  is  impending,  Mr.  Cilley  can  make  no 
explanation.'  Mr.  Wise  said,  in  substance,  '  The  exchange  of  shots  sus 
pends  the  challenge,  and  the  challenge  is  suspended  for  the  purpose  of 
explanation.'  Mr.  Jones  therefore  said  he  would  see  Mr.  Cilley,  and  did 
go  to  him.  He  returned  and  asked  Mr.  Wise  again,  '  Mr.  Wise,  do  I 
understand  aright  that  the  challenge  is  suspended?'  Mr.  Wise  an- 


298  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

swered,  '  It  is.'  Mr.  Jones  was  then  about  to  proceed,  when  Mr.  Wise 
suggested  that  it  was  best,  perhaps,  to  give  the  explanation  or  reason  in 
writing.  Mr.  Jones  then  said,  in  substance,  '  Mr.  Wise,  if  you  require 
me  to  put  what  I  have  to  say  in  writing,  I  shall  require  you  to  put  what 
you  have  said  and  may  say  in  writing.'  Mr.  Wise  replied,  '  Well,  let  us 
hear  the  explanation  beforehand,  as  it  may  not  be  necessary  to  put  it  in 
writing.'  Mr.  Jones  then  proceeded,  as  he  now  thinks,  substantially  to 
say,  '  I  am  authorized  by  my  friend,  Mr.  Cilley,  to  say  that,  in  declin 
ing  to  receive  the  note  from  Mr.  Graves,  purporting  to  be  from  Colonel 
Webb,  he  meant  no  disrespect  to  Mr.  Graves,  because  he  entertained  for 
him  then,  as  he  now  does,  the  most  kind  feelings  ;  but  that  he  declined 
to  receive  the  note  because  he  chose  not  to  be  drawn  into  controversy 
with  Colonel  Webb.'  Mr.  Wise  thinks  this  answer  of  Mr.  Jones's  was, 
in  substance,  as  follows :  '  I  am  authorized  by  my  friend,  Mr.  Cilley,  to 
say  that,  in  declining  to  receive  the  note  from  Mr.  Graves  purporting  to 
be  from  Colonel  Webb,  he  meant  no  disrespect  to  Mr.  Graves,  because 
he  entertained  for  him  then,  as  he  does  now,  the  highest  respect  and 
most  kind  feelings,  but  my  friend  refuses  to  disclaim  disrespect  for 
Colonel  Webb,  because  he  does  not  choose  to  be  drawn  into  an  expression 
of  opinion  as  to  him.'  Such  is  the  substantial  difference  between  the 
two  seconds  as  to  the  answer  of  Mr.  Jones.  The  friends  on  each  side, 
with  the  seconds,  then  retired  from  each  other  to  consult  upon  this 
explanation.  After  consultation,  Mr.  Wise  returned  to  Mr.  Jones  and 
said,  '  Mr.  Jones,  this  answer  leaves  Mr.  Graves  precisely  in  the  position 
in  which  he  stood  when  the  challenge  was  sent.'  Much  conversation 
then  ensued  between  the  seconds  and  their  friends,  but,  no  nearer 
approach  to  reconciliation  being  made,  the  challenge  was  renewed  and 
another  shot  was  exchanged  in  a  manner  perfectly  fair  and  honorable  to 
all  parties.  After  this  the  seconds  and  their  friends  again  assembled 
and  the  challenge  was  again  withdrawn,  and  very  similar  conversations 
to  that  after  the  first  exchange  of  shots  again  ensued.  Mr.  Jones  then 
remarked,  *  Mr.  Wise,  my  friend,  in  coming  to  the  ground  and  exchanging 
shots  with  Mr.  Graves,  has  shown  to  the  world  that  in  declining  to  receive 
the  note  of  Colonel  Webb  he  did  not  do  so  because  he  dreaded  a  contro 
versy.  He  has  shown  himself  a  brave  man,  and  disposed  to  render  sat 
isfaction  to  Mr.  Graves.  I  do  think  he  has  done  so,  and  that  the  matter 
should  end  here.'  To  this  Mr.  Wise  replied,  in  substance,  '  Mr.  Jones, 
Mr.  Cilley  has  already  expressed  his  respect  for  Mr.  Graves  in  the  written 
correspondence,  and  Mr.  Graves  does  not  require  of  Mr.  Cilley  a  certifi 
cate  of  character  for  Colonel  Webb ;  he  considers  himself  bound  not 
only  to  preserve  the  respect  due  to  himself,  but  to  defend  the  honor  of 
his  friend,  Colonel  Webb.'  These  words  of  Mr.  Wise  Mr.  Jones  recol 
lects,  and  Mr.  Wise  thinks  he  added  the  words,  '  Mr.  Graves  only  insists 


DUEL  BETWEEN  CILLEY  AND  GRAVES.  299 

that  he  has  not  borne  the  note  of  a  man  who  is  not  a  man  of  honor 
and  not  a  gentleman.'  After  much  more  conversation  and  ineffectual 
attempts  to  adjust  the  matter,  the  challenge  was  again  renewed,  and, 
whilst  the  friends  were  again  loading  the  rifles  for  the  third  exchange 
of  shots,  Mr.  Jones  and  Mr.  Wise  walked  apart,  and  each  proposed  to 
the  other  anxiously  to  settle  the  affair.  Mr.  Wise  asked  Mr.  Jones  '  if 
Mr.  Cilley  could  not  assign  the  reason  for  declining  to  receive  the  note 
of  Colonel  Webb,  that  he  did  not  hold  himself  accountable  to  Colonel 
Webb  for  words  spoken  in  debate  ?'  Mr.  Jones  replied,  that '  Mr.  Cilley 
would  not  assign  that  reason,  because  he  did  not  wish  to  be  understood 
as  expressing  the  opinion  whether  he  was  or  was  not  accountable  for 
words  spoken  in  debate.'  Mr.  Wise  then,  according  to  recollection, 
asked  Mr.  Jones  whether  Mr.  Cilley  would  not  say  that '  in  declining 
to  receive  the  note  of  Colonel  Webb  he  meant  no  disrespect  to  Mr. 
Graves,  directly  or  indirectly?'  To  which  Mr.  Jones  replied  affirma 
tively,  adding,  '  Mr.  Cilley  entertains  the  highest  respect  for  Mr.  Graves, 
but  declines  to  receive  the  note  because  he  chose  to  be  drawn  into  no 
controversy  with  Colonel  Webb/  After  further  explanatory  conversa 
tion  the  parties  then  exchanged  the  third  shot,  fairly  and  honorably  as 
in  every  instance.  Immediately  previous  to  the  last  exchange  of  shots 
Mr.  Wise  said  to  Mr.  Jones,  '  If  this  matter  is  not  terminated  this 
shot,  and  is  not  settled,  I  will  propose  to  shorten  the  distance.'  To  which 
Mr.  Jones  replied,  '  After  this  shot,  if  without  effect,  I  will  entertain  the 
proposition.' 

"  After  Mr.  Cilley  fell,  Mr.  Wise,  for  Mr.  Graves,  expressed  a  desire  to 
Mr.  Jones  to  see  Mr.  Cilley.  Mr.  Jones  replied  to  Mr.  Wise,  '  My  friend 
is  dead,'  and  went  on  to  Mr.  Graves  and  told  him  that  there  was  no 
objection  to  his  request  to  see  Mr.  Cilley.  When  Mr.  Jones  approached 
Mr.  Graves  and  informed  him  that  his  request  should  be  granted,  Mr. 
Graves  inquired,  '  How  is  he  ?'  The  reply  was,  '  My  friend  is  dead,  sir.' 
Mr.  Graves  then  went  to  his  carriage.  Mr.  Wise  inquired  of  Mr.  Jones 
before  leaving  the  ground  whether  he  could  render  any  service,  and 
tendered  all  the  aid  in  his  power.  Mr.  Wise  and  Mr.  Jones  concur  that 
there  were  three  shots  exchanged. 

"  Such  is  the  naked  statement  of  all  the  material  facts  and  circum 
stances  attending  this  unfortunate  affair  of  honor,  which  we  make  in 
justice  to  our  friends,  to  ourselves,  and  to  all  cpncerned,  the  living  and 
the  dead  ;  and  it  is  made  only  for  the  purpose  of  allaying  excitement  in 
the  public  mind,  and  to  prevent  any  and  all  further  controversy  upon 
the  subject,  which  already  is  full  enough  of  woe.  We  have  fully  and 
substantially  stated  wherein  we  agree  and  disagree.  We  cordially  agree, 
at  all  events,  in  bearing  unqualified  testimony  to  the  fair  and  honorable 
manner  in  which  the  duel  was  conducted.  We  endeavored  to  discharge 


300  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

our  duties  according  to  that  code  under  which  the  parties  met,  regulated 
by  magnanimous  principles  and  the  laws  of  humanity.  Neither  of  us 
has  taken  the  least  exception  to  the  course  of  the  other  ;  and  we  sincerely 
hope  that  here  all  controversy  whatever  may  cease.  We  especially  desire 
our  respective  friends  to  make  no  publication  on  the  subject.  None  can 
regret  the  termination  of  the  affair  more  than  ourselves,  and  we  hope 
again  that  the  last  of  it  will  be  the  signatures  of  our  names  to  this  paper, 
which  we  now  affix. 

"  GEORGE  W.  JONES. 

"  HENRY  A.  WISE." 

Vain  hope  !  Instead  of  this  being  "  the  last  of  the  affair," 
the  supposed  instigators  of  it  were  met  on  all  sides  with 
a  perfect  storm  of  indignation,  and  an  almost  universal 
demand  for  a  searching  investigation  of  the  matter  and 
punishment  of  the  guilty ;  and  the  more  the  circumstances 
of  the  tragedy  became  known  the  fiercer  the  cry  for  retri 
bution.  Before  proceeding,  however,  to  depict  this  feeling, 
I  will  introduce  the  sworn  statement  of  William  H.  Mor- 
rell  and  Daniel  Jackson,  two  chosen  friends  of  Colonel 
Webb,  who,  according  to  their  testimony,  "  said  that  it  was 
utterly  impossible  that  a  meeting  could  be  permitted  to 
take  place  between  Messrs.  Graves  and  Cilley  until  Mr. 
Cilley  had  first  met  him  (Webb),  and  that  he  was  deter 
mined  to  force  such  a  meeting  upon  Mr.  Cilley,  be  the  con 
sequences  what  they  might."  It  was  accordingly  agreed 
that  Colonel  Webb,  with  two  friends  "properly  armed, 
should  repair  to  Mr.  Cilley's  room,  when  Mr.  Webb  should 
offer  to  Mr.  Cilley  the  choice  of  his  duelling  pistols  with  the 
following  alternatives :  either  then  and  there  to  settle  the 
question  or  pledge  his  word  of  honor  that  he  would  give 
Colonel  Webb  a  meeting  before  Mr.  Graves  at  such  a  place 
and  time  and  with  such  weapons  as  Mr.  Cilley  might 
appoint ;  and  in  the  event  of  doing  neither,  then  to  expect 
the  most  serious  consequences  on  the  spot.  Mr.  Webb  then 
added :  "  Should  he  refuse  either  to  fight  me  at  the  time, 
or  give  the  pledge  required,  I  shall  have  no  alternative  left 
but  to  shatter  his  right  arm  and  thereby  prevent  his  meet- 


DUEL  BETWEEN  CILLEY  AND  GEAVES.  301 

ing  my  friend."  Before  this  plan  could  be  carried  out,  it 
was  found  that  Mr.  Cilley  had  left  his  lodgings  for  the  duel 
ling  ground,  understood  to  be  Bladensburg,  to  which  place 
Colonel  Webb  and  his  two  friends  immediately  repaired. 
On  their  way,  Colonel  Webb  designated  the  following  order 
of  proceedings : 

" '  On  reaching  the  parties/  said  he,  '  I'll  approach  Mr.  Cilley  and  tell 
him  this  is  my  quarrel,  and  he  must  fight  me,  and  that,  if  he  aims  his 
rifle  at  my  friend,  I'll  shoot  him  on  the  spot.  We  know  that,  upon  this, 
Messrs.  Graves  and  Wise  will  interfere,  and  that  we  will  be  ordered  off 
the  ground ;  but  I  shall  tell  them  that  we  have  come  prepared  to  lose 
our  lives  or  prevent  the  meeting,  and  that  it  cannot  proceed  without  first 
disposing  of  us.  From  our  knowledge  of  the  parties,  it  is  probable  that 
some  one  of  them  will  then  raise  his  weapon  at  me,  when  I  shall  in 
stantly  shoot  Cilley,  and  we  must  proceed  to  defend  ourselves  in  the  best 
way  we  can.' " 

After  stating  that  they  drove  to  the  usual  duelling  ground 
and  several  other  places  without  being  able  to  find  the  par 
ties,  the  witnesses  say :  "  It  is  unnecessary  to  add  what  would 
have  been  the  course  of  Colonel  Webb  if  Mr.  Graves,  in 
stead  of  Mr.  Cilley,  had  been  injured.  Suffice  it  to  say  that 
his  determination  was  sanctioned  by  us,  and,  however  much 
we  deplored  it,  we  could  not  doubt  but  the  extraordinary 
position  in  which  he  would  then  have  been  placed  would 
have  warranted  the  course  determined  upon." 

Alluding  to  the  dark  intimation  in  the  last  paragraph,  an 
able  editor,  at  the  time  holding  a  high  position  under  the 
United  States  government,  remarked,  "  Thus,  then,  it  seems 
if  Cilley  had  escaped  from  the  field  with  his  life,  he  would 
have  been,  doubtless,  assassinated  by  Webb  and  his  asso 
ciates." 

Colonel  Schaumbourg,  a  friend  of  Mr.  Cilley,  states  that 
before  the  meeting,  Mr.  Cilley  said  to  him  : 

"  Mr.  Graves  has  taken  upon  himself  to  demand  of  me  to  say,  and  that 
in  language  dictated  by  himself,  that  James  Watson  Webb  is  a  gentle 
man  and  a  man  of  honor.  Now,  that  is  what  I  am  not  going  to  disgrace 


302  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

myself  by  saying.  I  see  into  the  whole  affair.  Webb  has  come  on  here 
to  challenge  me  because  he  and  perhaps  others  think  that,  as  I  am  from 
New  England,  I  am  to  be  bluffed,  and  Mr.  Webb  will  proclaim  himself  a 
brave  man,  having  obtained  an  acknowledgment  on  my  part  that  he  is  a 
gentleman  and  a  man  of  honor.  But  they  have  calculated  without  their 
host.  Although  I  know  that  the  sentiment  of  New  England  is  opposed 
to  duelling,  I  am  sure  that  my  people  will  be  better  pleased  if  I  stand  the 
test  than  disgrace  myself  by  humiliating  concessions.  Sir,  the  name  I 
bear  will  never  permit  me  to  cower  beneath  the  frown  of  mortal  man.  It 
is  an  attempt  to  browbeat  us,  and  they  think  that  because  I  am  from  the 
East,  I  will  tamely  submit." 

Besides  the  two  seconds,  the  friends  of  each  party  on  the 
ground  were,  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Cilley,  Jesse  A.  Bynum, 
member  of  Congress  from  North  Carolina,  Colonel  W. 
Schaumbourg,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Alexander  Duncan 
(surgeon),  member  of  Congress  from  Ohio ;  and,  on  the  part 
of  Mr.  Graves,  John  J.  Crittenden,  Senator,  and  Richard 
H.  Menifee,  member  of  Congress  from  Kentucky,  and  Dr. 
J.  M.  Foltz,  surgeon,  of  Washington  City.  These  gentle 
men  were  quite  as  free  from  censure  in  the  affair  as  were 
some  others  not  present.  The  greater  weight  of  "  public 
opprobrium  and  disgust"  fell  upon  Mr.  Wise  and  Colonel 
Webb,  as  will  appear  from  quotations  we  will  see  from  the 
public  records  and  the  press. 

Mr.  Cilley 's  death  was  announced  in  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives  on  the  26th  of  February  by  the  Hon.  John 
Fairfield,  of  Maine,  and  in  the  Senate,  the  same  day,  by 
the  Hon.  Reuel  Williams,  of  Maine,  and  appropriate  reso 
lutions  provided  for  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of 
seven  members  to  investigate  the  causes  which  led  to  Mr. 
Cilley's  death  and  the  circumstances  connected  therewith ; 
also  to  inquire  whether,  in  the  matter,  there  had  been  any 
breach  of  the  privileges  of  the  House.  The  resolutions, 
after  considerable  opposition,  were  passed  by  yeas  one  hun 
dred  and  fifty-two,  nays  forty-nine,  and  this  committee  was 
composed  of  the  following  gentlemen :  Isaac  Toucey,  of 
Connecticut,  W.  W.  Potter,  of  Pennsylvania,  George  Grin- 


DUEL  BETWEEN  CILLEY  AND  GRAVES.  303 

nell,  Jr.,  of  Massachusetts,  F.  H.  Elmore,  of  South  Carolina, 
A.  D.  W.  Bruyn,  of  New  York,  S.  Grantland,  of  Georgia, 
and  J.  Eariden,  of  Indiana.  The  committee  were  divided 
in  opinion,  and  made  three  reports,  Mr.  Toucey,  afterward 
Senator  and  member  of  both  President  Folk's  and  President 
Buchanan's  Cabinet,  presenting  that  of  the  majority.  It 
embraces  the  material  facts  and  circumstances  of  the  duel, 
and,  among  other  things,  declares  that  "  It  is  a  breach  of 
the  highest  constitutional  privileges  of  the  House,  and  of 
the  most  sacred  rights  of  the  people  in  the  person  of  their 
representative,  to  demand  in  a  hostile  manner  an  explana 
tion  of  words  spoken  in  debate." 

The  committee  submitted  resolutions  for  the  expulsion 
of  William  J.  Graves,  Henry  A.  Wise,  and  George  W. 
Jones.  Finally,  after  a  long  debate,  the  whole  subject  was 
laid  on  the  table  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  two  to  sev 
enty-six,  a  vote  of  censure  merely  being  passed. 

High  as  party  feeling  ran  at  the  time,  indignation  and 
denunciation  were  by  no  means  confined  to  one  side  in 
politics.  "Never,"  said  Charles  G.  Green,  editor  of  the 
Boston  Post,  "  was  there  a  more  dastardly  murder  than 
that  of  the  unfortunate  Cilley.  The  nation  should  echo 
with  indignation  at  this  horrible  outrage,  this  cold-blooded 
assassination."  Naming  two  of  the  principal  actors  (Webb 
and  Wise)  in  the  affair,  the  same  editor  calls  the  one  "  the 
miserable  poltroon,"  and  the  other  "  the  wretch,"  adding, 
"  both  of  them  are  equally  a  disgrace  to  human  nature,  and 
will  receive  the  execration  of  mankind ;  we  hope  that  the 
penitentiary  or  the  gallows  will  soon  relieve  society  of  their 
baneful  presence."  A  Washington  correspondent  of  the 
Journal  of  Commerce  is  quoted  as  saying  that,  "  After  Jones 
returned  the  last  time,  from  the  conference,  with  Wise's 
reply,  Mr.  Cilley  said,  in  a  calm  and  collected  tone,  '  They 
thirst  for  my  blood !? '  In  a  previous  conference,  as  re 
ported  by  the  seconds,  Mr.  Cilley  said  that  "  in  declining 
to  receive  the  note  from  Colonel  Webb,  he  meant  no  disre- 


304  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

spect  to  Mr.  Graves,  because  lie  entertained  for  him  then, 
as  he  now  does,  the  highest  respect  and  most  kind  feelings." 
"  But,"  as  remarked  by  the  Democratic  Review,  published  by 
Langtree  and  O'Sullivan,  at  the  time,  "  all  this  was  without 
avail." 

Making  due  allowance  for  poetical  license,  the  following 
poem,  written  by  the  present  writer  and  published  in  the 
Eastern  Argus  very  soon  after  this  deplorable  affair,  ex 
presses  what  I  know  was  the  feeling,  particularly  in  New 
England  : 

"WITHOUT  AVAIL. 

" '  Without  avail !'     Infernal  plot ! 

The  thirst  for  blood  was  there ; 
Else  had  the  noble-minded  lived 
The  statesman's  wreath  to  wear. 

" '  Without  avail !'     In  hate  conspired — 

At  heart  the  murderers'  aim — 
To  take  his  life,  or  deep  disgrace 
To  stamp  upon  his  name ! 

"  In  vain  avowals  of  respect — 

Of  kindly  feeling,  where 
The  base  intent  was  fix'd — 
The  thirst  for  blood  was  there ! 

"  Eevenge  and  private  malice  deep, 

In  hearts  as  foul  as  hell, 
In  open  day  demanded  blood  ! 
Hence  Freedom's  champion  fell ! 

"  But  though  with  blood  their  hands  are  stained, 

Though  stiff  the  limbs  and  chill 
In  death  the  heart  of  him  who  fell— 
Yet  live  the  murderers  still ! 

"  Strange  may  it  seem — the  wretches  live  I 

But  on  each  murderer's  head 
Forever  rests  a  Nation's  curse  ; 
A  Nation's  heart  hath  bled  I 


DUEL  BETWEEN  CILLEY  AND  GRAVES.  305 

"  The  wretches  live ;  the  cause  behold : 

Stern  justice  hath  decreed 
That  they  may  reap  in  misery  long 
The  fruits  of  their  vile  deed. 

"  Aye,  ever,  wheresoe'r  they  roam, 

In  silence  awful — dread, 
Before  their  harass'd  eyes  shall  stand 
The  spectre  of  the  dead  ! 

"  Serene  and  joyful  though  the  day 

To  others  may  appear, 
Their  ears  the  aged  mother's  sighs 
In  ev'ry  sound  shall  hear  I 

"  And  ev'ry  breeze  to  them  shall  bear — 

Around  them  e'er  shall  rise 
The  stricken  widow's  piteous  wail 
And  helpless  orphans'  cries ! 

"  Their  way,  with  piercing  thorns  hedg'd  round, 

Shall  lead  them  but  to  meet 
At  every  step,  in  hideous  shape, 
Mad  vipers  at  their  feet. 

"  Thus,  until  struck  by  death's  cold  darts, 

Their  bitter  fate  shall  be ; 
And  o'er  their  memory  e'er  shall  roll 
The  fire  of  infamy  !" 

Mr.  Cilley  fought  under  disadvantages  which  (says  the 
Journal  of  Commerce)  must  have  been  well  known  to  those 
on  the  other  side,  and  which  induced  some  persons  to  say 
that  his  seconds  ought  never  to  have  suffered  him  to  fight 
under  them  at  all.  These  disadvantages  were  stated  to 
be  that  Mr.  Cilley,  being,  as  was  personally  known  to  the 
present  writer,  very  near-sighted,  could  not  see  to  shoot  at 
the  distance  measured  off,  which  was  alleged  to  be  greater 
by  twenty  yards  than  that  agreed  on  ;  that  his  rifle  was  so 
light — only  about  one-half  the  calibre  of  that  of  his  antag 
onist — that  it  would  not  carry  that  distance  with  accuracy ; 
that  he  was  shooting  against  the  wind,  which  was  blowing 

20 


306  TURNING  ON   THE  LIGHT. 

a  gale ;  and  that  he  stood  on  rising  ground  in  open  light, 
presenting  a  plain  mark,  while  his  antagonist  was  shaded 
by  a  copse  of  wood.  Under  all  these  disadvantages,  after 
disclaiming  all  enmity  to  Graves,  and  after  technical  requi 
sition  preliminary  to  accommodation  in  honorable  duelling, 
and  even  after  he  had  declared  that  he  did  not  wish  to  take 
Graves's  life,  but  entertained  for  him  "  the  highest  respect 
and  the  most  kind  feelings,"  Mr.  Cilley  was  shot  down ! 
"  What,"  asked  the  Eastern  Argus,  "  does  this  prove  but 
that  he  was  foully  murdered  ?" 

At  a  great  public  meeting,  held  at  the  capital  of  Maine, 
on  the  9th  of  March,  1838,  "  for  the  purpose  of  noticing  in 
a  suitable  manner  the  atrocious  murder  of  Hon.  Jonathan 
Cilley,"  a  series  of  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted, 
declaring,  among  other  things,  that  the  duel  was  "  the 
result  of  a  foul  conspiracy,  concerted  and  approved  among 
a  few  political  leaders,  to  take  advantage  of  Mr.  Cilley  and 
draw  him  into  a  quarrel,  in  order  that  they  might  seize 
upon  the  opportunity  afforded  to  gratify  personal  feelings 
of  private  malice  and  revenge,  and  remove  out  of  the  way 
an  opponent  every  day  becoming  more  and  more  formida 
ble,  whose  eloquent  appeals  and  retorted  sarcasms  it  would 
be  more  easy  to  silence  by  the  pistol  than  answer  in  debate ; 
that  in  the  course  pursued  by  Henry  A.  Wise  in  managing 
and  conducting  the  incidents  of  the  duel  after  the  first  fire, 
there  is  evidence  of  deep  and  vindictive  malignity;  and 
that  he  stands  justly  chargeable  before  the  world,  upon  his 
own  showing,  of  having  violated  every  recognized  principle 
of  chivalry  by  availing  himself  of  his  position  and  the 
occasion  to  glut  his  own  feelings  of  private  grudge  and  ill- 
will  against  Mr.  Cilley  for  a  former  supposed  offence  given 
by  the  deceased,  not  to  his  principal,  Graves,  but  to  him 
self,  Wise,  a  course  of  conduct  worthy  only  of  a  recreant 
and  a  dastard ;  that  the  studied  attempt  made  by  Henry 
A.  Wise  to  palliate  and  gloss  over  his  conduct  during  the 
duel,  apparent  in  the  imperfect  but  official  account,  so 


DUEL  BETWEEN  CILLEY  AND  GRAVES.  307 

called,  of  the  doings,  and  the  special  desire  expressed  in 
the  account,  that  those  who  witnessed  the  scene  should 
make  no  publication  on  the  subject,  afford  strong  pre 
sumptive  evidence  of  a  consciousness  that  there  were  deeds 
of  darkness  and  treachery  in  the  history  of  the  conflict 
which  would  not  bear  to  be  told;  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  careful  insertion  in  that  account  of  a  statement  that  Mr. 
Wise  inquired  of  Mr.  Jones,  before  leaving  the  ground, 
4  whether  he  could  render  any  service,  and  tendered  all  the 
aid  in  his  power,'  the  murder  having  been  already  perpe 
trated,  and  the  lifeless  corpse  of  Mr.  Cilley  then  lying 
stretched  out  before  him,  is  a  derision  and  a  mockery  upon 
the  better  feelings  of  our  nature,  worthy  only  of  the  man 
who  could  coolly  triumph  over  the  fallen  victim  of  his  own 
foul  machinations ;  and  that  in  the  transaction  which  ter 
minated  in  the  death  of  Mr.  Cilley,  considered  under  the 
mildest  and  most  mitigated  features  given  to  it  by  those 
who  took  part  in  it,  there  is  presented  to  the  people  of 
Maine  a  case  of  ruthless  assassination — of  preconcerted 
and  cold-blooded  murder  of  one  of  their  representatives, 
for  having  boldly  and  fearlessly  done  his  duty,  and  being 
resolved  to  continue  to  do  so." 

The  editor  of  the  Democratic  Review,  in  a  position  to 
obtain  the  most  correct  information  on  the  subject,  was 
very  severe  in  his  comments  upon  the  whole  affair,  and 
particularly  with  reference  to  Wise's  course  in  insisting, 
after  the  second  shot,  either  that  Mr.  Cilley  should  "  ac 
knowledge  Webb  to  be  a  gentleman  and  a  man  of  honor," 
or  that  ""blood  should  flow  !" 


"It  is  not  enough  that  he  (Mr.  Cilley)  has  said  nothing  to  the  dis 
paragement  of  Mr.  Webb — that  he  is  free  in  expression  of  the  highest 
respect  and  best  feeling  toward  Graves ;  it  is  not  enough  that  two  shots 
have  been  interchanged  on  this  flimsy  punctilio  of  honor,  in  the  language 
of  one  of  the  gentlemen  on  the  field,  in  his  remonstrance,  '  based  on  an 
abstraction  and  assumed  upon  an  implication ;'  it  is  not  enough  that  all 
persons  on  the  ground — the  second,  the  surgeon,  and  consulting  friends 


308  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

of  the  challenged  party,  the  surgeon  and  one  at  least  of  the  friends  of 
the  challenging  side  (Mr.  Crittenden) — are  unanimous  in  opinion  that 
all  has  been  done  that  the  most  fastidious  honor  can  require ;  it  is  not 
enough  that  he  (Wise)  has  put  a  distinct  proposition,  in  decisive  terms, 
as  if  an  ultimatum,  from  an  anxiety  to  bring  an  end  to  the  combat,  that 
acknowledgment  shall  be  made  that  no  disrespect  was  meant  to  Mr. 
Graves,  directly  or  indirectly,  and  that  it  was,  in  terms,  answered  affirm 
atively  :  nothing  whatever  will  suffice  but  a  degrading  acknowledgment 
contrary  to  the  conscience  and  truth  of  the  party,  and  to  the  well-known 
majority  of  society,  and  entirely  extraneous  to  the  relation  between  the 
parties  in  the  field— an  acknowledgment  which  nothing  but  a  trembling 
cowardice,  widely  unlike  the  brave  bearing  of  poor  Cilley,  could  yield 
under  such  circumstances — an  acknowledgment  which  he  knew,  and 
could  not  but  have  known,  could  not  and  would  not  be  conceded.  No, 
nothing  will  suffice  but  this  abject  and  impossible  submission — or  blood  I 
The  spirit  of  malignant  evil  that  ruled  the  ascendant  of  that  dark  hour 
triumphed,  and  the  kind-hearted,  the  generous,  the  peaceful,  the  manly, 
the  noble,  the  true,  the  brave,  lay  weltering  in  his  own  blood  1" 

The  following,  says  the  editor  of  the  Review,  are  sub 
stantially  the  views  of  the  matter  which  Mr.  Cilley  ex 
pressed  freely  to  his  friends  on  the  morning  of  the  fatal 
encounter : 

"  I  am  driven  to  this  meeting  by  a  positive  compulsion.  I  have  done 
all  that  an  honorable  man  could  do  to  avert  it.  Why  should  I  acknowl 
edge  that  man  to  be  a  gentleman  and  a  man  of  honor  ?  In  truth  and 
conscience  I  could  not  do  so,  and  still  less  can  I  have  it  so  unreasonably 
extorted  from  me  by  force  and  threat.  I  have  no  ill-will  nor  disrespect 
toward  Mr.  Graves.  He  knows  it,  and  I  have  repeatedly  and  fully 
expressed  it.  I  abhor  the  idea  of  taking  his  life,  and  will  do  nothing 
not  forced  upon  me  in  self-defence.  The  pretext  of  the  challenge  is 
absurd.  I  understand  the  conspiracy  to  destroy  me  as  a  public  man. 
But  New  England  must  not  be  trampled  on,  my  name  must  not  be  dis 
graced,  and  I  go  to  this  field  sustained  by  as  high  a  motive  of  patri 
otism  as  ever  led  my  grandfather  or  my  brother  to  battle,  as  an  unhappy 
duty,  not  to  be  shrunk  from,  to  my  honor,  my  principles,  and  my 
country." 

On  the  evening  before  the  duel  he  charged  one  of  his  lady 
friends,  should  he  not  survive,  to  say  to  his  wife  that  he 


DUEL  BETWEEN  CILLEY  AND  GRAVES.  309 

"  had  endeavored  to  pursue  that  course  in  all  things  which 
she  would  approve  and  his  own  conscience  dictated." 

In  a  biographical  sketch  of  Mr.  Cilley,  published  in  the 
Democratic  Review  for  September,  1838,  Nathaniel  Haw 
thorne  says : 

"  A  challenge  was  never  given  on  a  more  shadowy  pretext ;  a  duel  was 
never  pressed  to  a  fatal  close  in  the  face  of  such  open  kindness  as  was 
expressed  by  Mr.  Cilley ;  and  the  conclusion  is  inevitable  that  Mr.  Graves 
and  his  principal  second,  Mr.  Wise,  have  gone  further  than  their  own 
dreadful  code  will  warrant  them,  and  overstepped  the  imaginary  dis 
tinction  which,  on  their  own  principles,  separates  manslaughter  from 
murder." 

Mr.  Wise  was  not  a  man  to  rest  silent  under  such  op 
probrium.  On  the  16th  of  March,  1838,  he  issued  a  long 
address  to  his  constituents  in  which  he  gave  his  own 
account  of  the  duel  so  far  as  he  himself  was  concerned. 
He  began  by  saying  that  "  the  catastrophe  had  brought 
upon  him  much  odium  and  reproach,"  but  claimed  that  he 
was  bound  to  act  for  Mr.  Graves,  because,  said  he  : 

"  I  felt  obliged  to  do  for  him  what  I  would  have  called  on  him  to  do 
for  me.  It  is  said  that  I  myself  was  hostile  to  his  antagonist.  If  so,  I 
may  have  been  incompetent,  but  I  solemnly  deny  that  I  was  hostile  to 
Mr.  Cilley.  There  had  been  a  slight  misunderstanding  between  u$  in 
debate,  which  passed  off  with  the  moment  and  left  no  trace  of  animosity 
behind.  But  hostile  to  him  or  not,  and  though  hostility  might,  perhaps, 
have  incited  another  to  take  his  life — dark  and  deadly  such  hate  must 
have  been — yet  my  conduct  proves  that  I  did  earnestly  endeavor  to  pre 
vent  the  shedding  of  blood  by  reconciling  his  difference  with  my  friend ; 
and  the  history  of  the  tragedy  proves  that  not  only  I  but  two  other 
gentlemen  of  known  character  and  standing,  who  were  never  accused  of 
hostility  to  him,  and  who  might  have  overruled  me  by  their  voices  and 
influence,  could  not  reconcile  that  difference  or  prevent  its  result." 

He  says,  also,  that  he  rebuked  Graves  for  bearing  the 
note  from  Mr.  Webb,  and  that  he  told  him  that  Mr.  Cilley's 
reasons,  as  repeated  by  Mr.  Graves,  for  refusing  to  receive 
the  note  "  were  very  proper,"  and  his  answer,  "  certainly 
satisfactory."  Here  is  what  he  said  Mr.  Graves  represented 


310  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

Mr.  Cilley  had  in  substance  verbally  declared :  That,  "  in 
declining  to  receive  the  note  he  hoped  it  would  not  be 
thought  disrespectful  to  him  (Mr.  Graves) ;  that  he  declined 
on  the  ground  that  he  could  not  consent  to  be  involved  in 
personal  difficulties  with  conductors  of  public  journals  for 
what  he  had  thought  proper  to  say  in  debate  upon  the  floor, 
and  that  he  did  not  decline  upon  any  personal  objection  to 
Colonel  Webb  as  a  gentleman."  Mr.  Wise  appears  to  have 
assented  to  the  propriety  of  Mr.  Graves  requiring  this 
answer  to  be  put  in  writing,  and  so  came  the  challenge,  the 
terms  of  which  Mr.  Wise  said  were  regarded  as  "  barbarous 
and  such  as  might  properly  be  declined;  but  it  was  thought 
they  were  intended  to  intimidate ;  that  the  distance  was  so 
great  as  in  some  measure  to  mitigate  the  severity  of  the 
weapon,  and  therefore  I  was  advised  that  they  should  be 
accepted."  It  was  likewise  suggested  that  the  challenged 
party  might  be  the  first  to  fly  from  these  terms. 

He  speaks  of  his  difficulty  in  procuring  a  suitable  rifle 
for  Mr.  Graves,  and  admits  that  he  had  asked  Mr.  Jones  to 
assist  him  in  that  particular.  At  the  same  time  he  says, 
"  I  wished  to  gain  time  not  only  to  procure  a  fit  rifle,  but  to 
afford  an  opportunity,  if  possible,  to  prevent  the  meeting." 

He  quotes  from  Mr.  Jones's  note  the  passage  in  which  he 
said  to  Mr.  Wise  that  he  had  the  pleasure  to  inform  him 
that  he  had  an  excellent  rifle  in  good  order  which  was  at 
the  service  of  Mr.  Graves,  and  remarks  that,  without  wait 
ing  for  an  answer,  Mr.  Jones  tendered  to  him  "  for  the  use 
of  Mr.  Graves,  the  rifle  referred  to,"  and  its  appendages. 
Thus,  Mr.  Wise  says,  "  A  weapon,  not  one  of  a  pair,  was 
tendered  for  the  use  of  Mr.  Graves  in  a  manner  that  was 
considered  taunting."  Leaving  it  be  inferred,  of  course, 
that  one  preferred  to  it  had  been  reserved  for  Mr.  Cilley. 
He  contends,  too,  that  Mr.  Cilley  "  precipitated  the  time  of 
meeting  when  the  second  of  Mr.  Graves  was  avowing  a 
want  of  preparation  and  a  desire  for  delay." 

He  proceeds  to  say : 


DUEL  BETWEEN  CILLEY  AND  GRAVES.  311 

"  The  distance  appointed  was  eighty  yards.  It  is  my  firm  belief  that 
the  distance  stepped  off  by  Mr.  Jones  and  myself,  which  we  did  pari 
passu,  was  nearer  one  hundred  yards  than  eighty.  The  ground  was  meas 
ured  before  the  choice  of  positions,  and  I  believe  that  we  both  stepped 
with  a  view  of  preventing  the  parties  from  hitting  each  other.  I  kept 
my  eye  on  Mr.  Cilley.  It  was  my  duty  to  see  he  obeyed  the  rules.  At 
the  first  exchange  of  shots  I  thought  he  fired,  though  perfectly  fair,  too 
hurriedly,  and  his  ball  did  not  reach  Mr.  Graves,  because  he  did  not 
raise  his  rifle  sufficiently  high.  Mr.  Graves  fired  after  Mr.  Cilley." 

At  the  second  shot,  he  says : 

"  Mr.  Graves's  rifle  went  off  quickly,  and,  as  he  told  me  afterwards, 
accidentally,  and  into  the  ground.  Mr.  Cilley  drew  up  very  deliberately, 
aimed,  I  feared,  a  deadly  shot,  and  fired.  I  thought  he  had  hit  Mr. 
Graves.  It  was  very  apparent  to  me  that  Mr.  Cilley  had  shot  at  the  life 
of  Mr.  Graves.  If,  when  Mr.  Graves's  rifle  went  off,  without  harm  to 
him,  he  had  discharged  his  in  the  air  or  reserved  his'  fire,  the  fight  would 
have  been  at  an  end." 

Nevertheless,  Mr.  Cilley's  friends  said  that,  even  admit 
ting  that  Mr.  Wise  was  correct  in  his  assertion  that  Mr. 
Cilley  fired  after  the  discharge  of  Mr.  Graves's  rifle,  it  was 
equally  true,  according  to  his  own  statement,  that  Mr. 
Graves,  on  the  first  exchange  of  shots,  had  done  the  same 
thing  toward  Mr.  Cilley.  It  does  not  appear  how  Mr. 
Wise  could  reconcile  his  allegation  in  this  regard  with  his 
official  statement,  conjointly  with  Mr.  Jones,  that  the  second 
shot  was  exchanged  "  in  a  manner  perfectly  fair  and  honor 
able  to  all  parties,"  and  that  they  bore  their  unqualified 
testimony  to  the  fair  and  honorable  manner  in  which  the 
duel  was  conducted. 

Between  the  second  and  third  shots,  in  making  the  prop 
osition  he  did,  that  Mr.  Cilley  should  say  that  "  in  declining 
to  receive  Colonel  Webb's  note,  he  meant  no  disrespect  to 
Mr.  Graves,  either  directly  or  indirectly,"  Mr.  Wise  says  he 
went  beyond  his  instructions ;  and  that  he  understood  Mr. 
Jones  to  say  that  "  Mr.  Cilley  would  not  say  these  words 
alone,  nor  without  adding  words  which  did  away  the  effect 
of  the  word  '  indirectly,'  and  which  left  the  parties  exactly 


312  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

where  they  were  when  they  came  upon  the  ground."  He 
says,  "  It  was  at  the  instance  of  Mr.  Graves  himself  that  I 
remarked  to  Mr.  Jones,  immediately  previous  to  the  last 
exchange  of  shots,  '  If  this  matter  is  not  terminated  this 
shot,  and  is  not  settled,  I  shall  propose  to  shorten  the  dis 
tance.'  " 

Later — February,  1839 — Mr.  Wise  availed  himself  of  an 
opportunity  to  present  his  defence  before  the  House  of 
Representatives.  I  was  there  and  heard  it.  He  was  wildly 
excited  and  defiant.  Said  he : 

"  I  am  ready  to  be  tried.  Put  me  at  your  bar,  and  I  will  plead  in 
stantly.  I  am  ready  to  say  on  the  spot,  I  did  on  that  occasion  just  what 
I  will  do  again  under  similar  circumstances.  Let  Puritans  shudder  as 
they  may,  I  proclaim  that  I  belong  to  the  class  of  Cavaliers,  not  to  the 
Eoundheads !  You  shall  not  taunt  me.  What  are  you  doing  ?  You 
have  passed  a  penitentiary  act  [the  anti-duelling  law].  You  are  then 
bound  to  take  the  defence  of  character  into  your  own  hands,  as  you  have 
taken  arms  from  the  hands  of  the  cavalier.  Will  you  do  it  ?  No !  I 
call  upon  you,  I  call  upon  society,  either  to  defend  me  or  give  me  back 
my  arms.  In  the  face  of  an  approaching  election,  I  say  to  my  good  con 
stituents.  ...  If  you  are  determined  I  shall  not  defend  myself  when 
assailed,  like  a  true  knight,  do  not  send  me  to  Congress,  for  I  shall  just 
as  surely  fight,  if  occasion  is  given,  as  you  send  me ;  and  so  I  shall  ever 
continue  until  the  holy  religion  of  the  Cross  takes  possession  of  my  soul, 
which  may  God  grant  right  early." 

Up  to  this  time,  and  for  nearly  two  years  afterwards,  Mr. 
Wise,  in  public  estimation,  stood  out  prominently  as  the 
one  individual  altogether  the  most  deserving  of  censure  in 
this  matter.  As  he  himself  said  in  an  appeal  "  to  the 
public,"  in  March,  1842,  "  The  whole  weight  of  an  almost 
insupportable  odium  fell  upon  my  reputation  for  my  con 
duct  in  the  affair." 

But  in  the  winter  of  that  year,  or  earlier,  the  relations  of 
some  of  the  parties  to  the  transaction  had  become  changed. 
Mr.  AYise  had  espoused  the  cause  of  President  Tyler,  thus 
separating  himself  from  his  old  friend  Henry  Clay,  who 
was  a  candidate  for  the  presidency,  and  to  whose  fortunes 


DUEL  BETWEEN  CILLEY  AND  GRAVES.  313 

Messrs.  Graves  and  Webb,  with  the  Whig  party  generally, 
adhered.  It  began  to  be  whispered  about  that  Mr.  Clay 
had  been  consulted  and  exercised  a  controlling  influence  in 
the  affair  of  the  duel,  and  a  direct  charge  to  this  effect 
brought  out  Mr.  Graves,  on  a  call  from  Mr.  Clay,  in  expla 
nation.  I  will  not  extend  this  narrative  by  going  at  length 
into  the  particulars  of  the  correspondence  which  followed, 
and  in  which  Messrs.  Wise,  Graves,  Clay,  Reverdy  John 
son,  and  Charles  King  took  part.  Suffice  it  to  say  that, 
except  so  far  as  Wise  was  concerned,  all  was  said  that  could 
be  to  exculpate  Mr.  Clay,  but,  as  must  be  admitted,  not  with 
entire  success.  It  came  out  that  he  was  early  consulted  by 
all  these  gentlemen,  and  that  he  actually  "drew  the  form 
of  challenge  which  was  finally  adopted."  It  was  a  modifi 
cation  of  the  form  submitted  to  him  by  Wise  and  Graves, 
and  the  latter  states  that  "  it  was  rather  calculated  to  soften 
the  language  and  not  so  completely  to  close  the  door  to  an 
adjustment  of  the  difficulty."  Mr.  Wise  says  that  when  he 
and  Mr.  Graves  called  on  Mr.  Clay,  in  discussing  the  terms 
of  the  duel,  which  he  (Wise)  "  protested  against  as  unusual 
and  barbarous,"  Mr.  Clay  remarked  that  Mr.  Graves  was 
"  a  Kentuckian,  and  that  no  Kentuckian  could  back  out 
from  a  rifle." 

Mr.  Wise  stated  that — 

"  Mr.  Clay's  friends  particularly  were  very  anxious,  for  obvious  reasons, 
not  to  involve  his  name  especially  in  the  affair.  Thus  many  confidential 
facts  remained  unknown  on  both  sides.  Mr.  Clay  himself,  it  is  true,  while 
all  his  friends  were  trembling  lest  the  part  he  took  in  it  should  be  dis 
closed,  boldly  came  to  me  and  said,  '  Sir,  it  is  a  nine  days'  bubble  I  If 
they  want  to  know  what  I  did  in  the  matter,  tell  them  to  call  me  before 
them  and  I  will  tell  them.'  This  excited  my  admiration  at  the  time, 
and  was  effectual  to  prevent  me  from  unnecessarily  bringing  his  name 
before  the  committee." 

After  all,  I  think  public  sentiment,  as  at  first  expressed, 
was  not  materially  modified  by  these  later  developments, 
and  that  it  remains  unchanged  as  regards  Wise's  great  cul- 


314  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

pability,  notwithstanding  Graves,  in  the  course  of  their 
correspondence,  declared  to  him,  u  I  always  have,  and  now 
do,  most  emphatically  exempt  you  from  all  blame  or  cen 
sure  growing  out  of  your  connection  with  the  affair.  I,  and 
I  only,  am  justly  responsible  for  whatever  was  done  by 
myself  or  those  representing  me  as  my  friends  on  that 
occasion." 

One  of  the  most  stinging  accusations  against  Mr.  Wise 
was  made  by  ex-President  John  Quincy  Adams,  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  on  the  26th  of  January,  1842, 
when  a  resolution,  offered  by  Mr.  Gilmer,  of  Virginia 
(killed  by  the  bursting  of  the  "  Peacemaker"  on  the 
"  Princeton,"  in  February,  1844),  was  under  discussion,  de 
claring  that  Mr.  Adams  had  justly  incurred  the  censure  of 
the  House  in  presenting  for  its  consideration  an  abolition 
petition  for  the  dissolution  of  the  Union.  Mr.  Wise  took 
a  leading  part  in  the  discussion,  in  the  course  of  which  the 
venerable  ex-President  was  led  to  .say  that,  "  four  or  five 
years  ago,  there  came  to  the  House  a  man  [Wise]  with  his 
hands  and  face  dripping  with  the  blood  of  a  murder,  the 
blotches  of  which  were  yet  hanging  upon  him."  This,  in 
nearly  the  same  language,  he  twice  repeated,  and  at  the 
same  time  said :  "  I  never  did  believe  but  he  [Wise]  was  the 
guilty  man,  and  that  the  man  who  pulled  the  trigger  was 
but  an  instrument  in  his  hands.  This  was  my  belief  in  the 
beginning." 

Of  the  actors  in  this  deplorable  affair,  the  only  survivor 
(December,  1891)  is  George  W.  Jones,  of  Iowa,  Mr.  Cilley's 
second.  Mr.  Graves,  after  long  and  intense  suffering,  both 
mental  and  physical,  died  in  Louisville,  Ky.,  on  the  27th 
of  September,  1848,  aged  forty-three  years. 

Jonathan  Cilley  was  born  at  Nottingham,  !N".  H.,  on  the 
2d  of  July,  1802,  and  was,  therefore,  at  his  death  in  the 
thirty-sixth  year  of  his  age.  He  was  a  man  of  fine  per 
sonal  appearance,  in  size  and  weight  about  medium,  and 
of  rather  dark  complexion.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Bowdoin 


DUEL  BETWEEN  CILLEY  AND  GEAVES.  315 

College.     His  friend  Nathaniel  Hawthorne  describes  him, 
while  at  college — 

"  As  a  young  man  of  quick  and  powerful  intellect,  endowed  with 
sagacity  and  tact,  yet  frank  and  free  in  his  mode  of  action ;  ambitious 
of  good  influence ;  earnest,  active,  and  persevering,  with  an  elasticity 
and  cheerful  strength  of  mind  which  made  difficulties  easy  and  the 
struggle  with  them  a  pleasure.  In  the  summer  of  1837  I  met  him  for 
the  first  time  since  our  early  youth,  when  he  had  been  to  me  almost  an 
elder  brother.  In  his  person  there  was  very  little  change,  and  that  little 
was  for  the  better.  He  had  an  impending  brow,  deep-set  eyes,  and  a 
thin  and  thoughtful  countenance,  which,  in  his  abstracted  moments, 
seemed  almost  stern  ;  but  in  the  intercourse  of  society  it  was  brightened 
with  a  kindly  smile  that  will  live  in  the  recollection  of  all  who  knew 
him." 

One  who  had  been  a  bosom  friend  and  constant  companion 
through  an  acquaintance  of  sixteen  years  says  of  him  : 

"  He  was  the  kindest  and  gentlest  of  human  beings,  with  a  constant 
and  happy  flow  of  animal  spirits  and  the  innocence  of  a  child,  while  at 
the  same  time  as  independent,  courageous,  and  firm  in  his  purposes  as 
he  was  clear  in  his  judgments  and  upright  in  his  every  thought." 

Mr.  Cilley  left  a  wife  and  three  children, — two  sons  and 
a  daughter,  the  latter  an  infant  whom  he  never  saw.  It  is 
a  singular  fact  that  on  the  Sunday  succeeding  the  Saturday 
on  which  he  fell,  Mrs.  Cilley,  wholly  unconscious  of  the 
terrible  news  already  on  its  way  to  her,  was  so  impressed 
from  reading  the  well-known  hymn,  commencing  with  the 
lines — 

"  Far,  far  o'er  hill  and  dale  on  the  winds  stealing, 
List  to  the  tolling  bell,  mournfully  pealing," 

that  she  was  induced  to  mark  it  with  a  pencil.     The  second 
and  third  stanzas  read  : 

"  Now,  through  the  charmed  air  slowly  ascending, 
List  to  the  mourner's  prayer  solemnly  bending : 

Hark !  hark  I  it  seems  to  say, 

Turn  from  those  joys  away 

To  those  which  ne'er  decay, 
For  life  is  ending. 


316  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

"  O'er  the  father's  dismal  tomb  see  the  orphan  bending, 
From  the  solemn  churchyard's  gloom  hear  the  dirge  ascending : 

Hark !  hark !  it  seems  to  say, 

How  short  ambition's  sway, 

Life's  joys  and  friendship's  ray, 
In  the  dark  grave  ending !" 

Alas  !  the  soul-chilling,  heart-rending  news  of  the  tragic 
death  of  the  husband  and  father  was  soon  to  place  beyond 
doubt  the  sad  reality  of  what  seemed  to  have  been  thus 
mysteriously  foretokened.  Mrs.  Cilley  never  entirely  re 
covered  from  the  fearful  shock.  She  died  on  the  15th  of 
October,  1844. 


CHAPTEE   X. 

THE   BATTLE   OF    BLADENSBURG — BURNING   OF   WASHINGTON    IN 

1814. 

PRIOR  to  the  late  civil  war,  during  many  years,  we  had 
for  Second  Assistant  Postmaster-General  Mr.  William  H. 
Dundas,  who  was  somewhat  of  a  wag,  and  who  delighted 
in  rallying  the  mild  and  staid  John  Smith,  one  of  the  clerks 
of  the  Department,  on  having  served  in  a  militia  company 
at  the  battle  of  Bladensburg,  otherwise  reproachfully  called 
"  the  Bladensburg  races."  Said  he,  "  The  red-coats  got  a 
little  the  better  of  you  at  the  start,  but  you  beat  them  in  the 
long  run." 

There  having  been  so  many  meagre  and  often  conflicting 
stories  about  this  famous  battle  and  the  fall  of  Washing 
ton,  I  determined,  if  possible,  to  sift  the  various  accounts, 
and  present  within  reasonable  limits  an  intelligible  record. 
To  this  end  I  examined  the  files  of  many  of  the  prominent 
newspapers  of  the  day,  and  read  all  I  could  find  on  the 
subject  in  books.  It  appears  that  no  serious  fears  were  felt 
for  the  safety  of  the  capital  until  within  a  few  days  of  its 


THE  BATTLE  OF  BLADENSBURG.  317 

capture.  We  can  imagine  what  consternation  prevailed 
among  the  citizens  when  the  danger  suddenly  became  im 
minent.  The  Boston  Centind  of  August  24, 1814,  contained 
a  letter  from  Washington,  dated  August  16,  saying,  "  We 
are  all  in  alarm  here.  The  enemy  are  said  to  be  in  great 
force  in  the  Chesapeake.  It  is  apprehended  this  city  is 
their  object,  and  that  they  will  land  in  the  Patuxent  or  near 
Annapolis,  near  which  several  of  their  ships  have  been 
seen.  It  is  expected  the  President  will  issue  another  proc 
lamation,  directing  Congress  to  assemble  at  some  other 
place  except  Washington, — say  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania/'' 
President  Madison  had  already  summoned  Congress  (Au 
gust  8)  to  meet  on  the  19th  of  September.  Another  item 
in  the  Centind  of  a  later  date  was,  "  The  public  papers 
began  to  be  removed  from  Washington  21st  August,  and 
all  the  horses,  carriages,  and  drivers  are  pressed.  The 
roads  are  crowded  writh  women  and  children,  and  the 
greatest  distress  prevails."  A  correspondent  of  the  Balti 
more  Patriot  wrote  from  Washington  that,  "  On  Sunday 
(21st)  the  public  officers  were  all  engaged  in  packing  and 
sending  off  their  books,  and  the  citizens  their  furniture. 
On  Monday  this  business  was  continued  with  great  indus 
try,  and  many  families  left  the  city.  The  specie  was  re 
moved  from  all  the  banks  in  the  District."  A  gentleman 
wrote  from  Washington  at  one  o'clock  in  the  morning  of 
the  day  of  the  battle,  "  I  cannot  find  language  to  express 
the  situation  of  the  women  and  children,  who  are  running 
the  streets  in  a  state  bordering  on  distraction ;  their  hus 
bands,  fathers,  and  brothers  all  under  arms,  scarce  a  man 
to  be  seen  in  the  city.  Enemy  reported  to  be  thirteen  thou 
sand  strong." 

The  British  squadron  under  command  of  Yice-Admiral 
Cockburn  entered  Chesapeake  Bay  on  the  16th  of  August. 
On  the  18th  a  part  of  their  ships  with  the  British  troops, 
under  General  Ross,  then  estimated,  as  one  account  states, 
"at  from  five  thousand  to  ten  thousand,  probably  rising 


318  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

seven  thousand,"  entered  the  Patuxent  River,  and  a  part 
ascended  the  Potomac, — in  all  then  reported  to  be  "  com 
posed  of  fifty  sail,  including  transports."  It  was  known 
that  the  troops  were  largely  made  up  from  the  army  of  the 
Duke  of  Wellington — tried  veterans  in  the  regular  service 
— whose  embarkation  for  the  United  States  our  Govern 
ment  had  been  advised  of  as  early  as  the  month  of  June 
succeeding  the  triumphant  entry  of  the  allied  forces  into 
Paris,  March  30,  when  Napoleon  abdicated  to  give  place  to 
Louis  XVIII.  (on  the  6th  of  April,  1815),  and  the  pacifica 
tion  of  Europe.  The  report  soon  came  that  these  British 
troops  were  landing  at  Benedict,  twenty- seven  miles  east 
of  Washington,  on  the  Patuxent,  and  that  they  were  pre 
paring  to  march  to  Washington,  although  there  was  great 
uncertainty  as  to  whether  Washington,  Annapolis,  or  Fort 
Washington,  on  the  Potomac,  was  their  objective  point. 
Meantime  more  active  preparations  for  defence  were  hastily 
made  by  calling  out  all  the  available  militia  and  regular 
United  States  troops  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  as  well  as 
from  Baltimore  and  other  sections  not  far  distant.  General 
W.  H.  Winder  was  ordered  to  the  command,  and  under 
date  of  August  20  issued  two  "  General  Orders,"  calling  on 
his  soldiers  "  to  do  their  duty  without  regard  to  sacrifice 
and  privation,"  and  upon  the  people  within  or  contiguous  to 
his  command  "  to  rally  round  the  standard  of  their  country 
in  defence  of  the  capital  and  their  own  firesides."  These 
orders  were  supplemented  by  a  similar  stirring  appeal  from 
James  H.  Blake,  the  mayor  of  Washington. 

There  is  undoubted  evidence  that  President  Madison 
was  early  alive  to  the  importance  of  adopting  effective 
measures  for  the  safety  of  the  capital.  At  a  special  Cabinet 
meeting  called  for  this  purpose  on  July  1, 1814,  the  subject 
was  fully  discussed  and  a  plan  of  defence  agreed  on,  which, 
had  it  been  carried  out,  might  have  proved  successful.  But 
this  failed,  it  appears,  through  the  inefiiciency  or  indiffer 
ence,  or  both  combined,  of  General  Armstrong,  Secretary 


THE  BATTLE  OF  BLADENSBUKG.  319 

of  War,  who  could  not  or  would  not  believe,  until  the 
enemy  was  seen  on  his  march  to  Bladensburg,  that  Wash 
ington  was  his  destination ;  who  seemed  to  think  it  far 
more  probable  that  he  was  going  either  to  Baltimore  or 
Annapolis,  that  he  "  would  never  be  so  mad  as  to  make  an 
attempt  on  Washington,  and  that  it  was  therefore  totally 
unnecessary  to  make  any  preparations  for  its  defence."  As 
late  as  the  day  of  the  battle,  the  New  York  Evening  Post 
received  information  from  Washington  that,  although  the 
British  had  disembarked  at  Benedict,  they  had  not  marched 
thitherward,  and  that  the  militia  had  collected  in  such  num 
bers  in  and  near  the  capital  as  to  insure  its  safety  in  case 
of  attack.  The  result,  however,  was  that,  "only  eleven 
days  before  the  enemy  entered  the  city,  the  commanding 
general  had  under  his  orders  but  little  more  than  one 
thousand  men,"  and  with  his  utmost  exertions  he  had  suc 
ceeded  in  collecting  not  more  than  half  the  force  it  was 
intended  by  the  President  he  should  have  when  the  day  of 
battle  came.  Even  then,  a  regiment  of  some  eight  hundred 
men  from  Virginia,  who  arrived  in  the  city  the  day  before, 
could  not  join  the  army  for  want  of  necessary  equipments, 
for  which  the  War  Department  had  made  little  or  no 
provision.  General  Winder,  in  his  official  report,  says, 
"  About  five  thousand  men,  including  three  hundred  and 
fifty  regulars  and  Commodore  Barney's  command  (about 
five  hundred  men),  was  all  that  he  was  able  to  interpose  at 
Bladensburg.  Much  the  larger  part  of  this  force,  he  says, 
arrived  on  the  ground  when  the  enemy  were  in  sight,  and 
were  disposed  of  to  support  in  the  best  manner  the  position 
which  General  Stansbury  had  taken  with  his  command  from 
Baltimore.  They  had  barely  reached  the  ground  before  the 
action  commenced." 

For  several  days  before  the  British  ventured  up  the 
Patuxent,  detachments  were  from  time  to  time  landed 
from  their  vessels  and  engaged  in  committing  depredations 
on  the  unoffending  planters,  burning  their  dwellings  and 


320  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

seizing  tobacco  and  other  products,  not  omitting  to  supply 
themselves  with  provisions,  the  most  delicate  within  their 
reach.  Commodore  Barney  had  moved  his  flotilla  up  the 
Patuxent  above  Nottingham.  It  consisted,  he  said,  "  of 
fourteen  open  row-boats  (not  gun-boats)  and  one  tender, 
having  crews  amounting  in  the  whole  to  five  hundred  and 
three  men."  On  Friday,  August  19,  Colonel  Monroe,  Sec 
retary  of  State,  with  Captain  Thornton's  troops  from  Alex 
andria,  made  a  reconnoissance,  and  discovered  that  the 
enemy  was  debarking  at  Benedict.  A  letter  from  Wash 
ington,  in  the  Richmond  Enquirer  of  August  23,  states  that 
Colonel  Monroe  was  near  being  captured  at  Nottingham, 
but  that  he  escaped  from  one  side  of  the  town  while  the 
British  were  marching  in  at  the  other.  Mr.  George  K. 
Gleig,  a  British  subaltern  present,  thus  describes  the  de 
barkation  :  "  As  soon  as  the  dawn  began  to  appear  on  the 
morning  of  the  19th,  there  was  a  general  stir  throughout 
the  fleet.  A  gun-brig  had  already  taken  her  station  within 
one  hundred  and  fifty  yards  of  a  village  called  St.  Bene 
dict's,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river,  where  it  was  deter 
mined  that  the  disembarkation  should  be  effected.  Her 
broadside  was  turned  toward  the  shore,  and  her  guns, 
loaded  with  grape-  and  round-shot,  were  pointed  at  the 
beach  to  cover  the  landing  of  the  boats;  and  being  moored 
fore  and  aft  with  spring  cables,  she  was  altogether  as  man 
ageable  as  if  she  had  been  under  sail.  .  .  .  By  three  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon  the  whole  army  was  landed,  and  occupied 
a  strong  position  about  two  miles  above  the  village." 

On  Saturday,  August  20,  General  Winder  despatched 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Tilghman,  with  his  squadron  of  dra 
goons,  "  by  way  of  the  Wood  Yard  (about  fifteen  miles 
from  Washington),  to  fall  down  upon  the  British,  to  annoy, 
harass,  and  impede  their  march  by  every  possible  means,  to 
remove  or  destroy  forage  and  provisions  from  before  the 
enemy,  and  gain  intelligence.  Captain  Caldwell,  with  his 
troop  of  city  cavalry,  was  despatched  with  the  same  views 


THE  BATTLE  OF  BLADENSBURG.  321 

toward  Benedict  by  Piscataway,  it  being  wholly  uncertain 
what  route  the  enemy  would  take  if  it  was  his  intention  to 
come  to  Washington."  Other  smaller  detachments  were 
sent  to  different  points  to  watch  the  movements  of  the 
enemy  and  give  information.  At  that  time,  being  pretty 
well  convinced  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  enemy  to 
proceed  directly  to  Washington,  General  Winder  gave 
orders  to  Colonel  Scott  and  Major  Peter  to  retire  and 
occupy  the  first  eligible  position  between  the  junction  of 
two  roads  leading  thither  and  the  Wood  Yard.  After  a 
great  deal  of  reconnoitring  and  some  skirmishing,  in  which 
shots  were  exchanged  with  little  effect,  the  British  forces 
continued  slowly  to  advance  and  ours  to  fall  back  towards 
the  eastern  branch  of  the  Potomac  and  Bladensburg.  Com 
modore  Barney's  flotilla  was  lying  near  Mt.  Pleasant,  about 
nine  miles  from  Nottingham,  when,  on  the  approach  of  the 
British  fleet,  August  21,  the  commodore,  with  four  hundred 
of  his  men,  abandoned  their  boats,  leaving  the  rest  of  the 
crew  with  orders  to  blow  them  up,  which  they  did  on  the 
following  day,  and  all  joined  the  army.  The  capture  or 
destruction  of  this  flotilla,  which  could  not  have  been  very 
formidable,  was  undoubtedly  the  first  object  the  enemy  had 
in  view,  and  so  soon  as  its  destruction  was  thus  accom 
plished,  they  were  left  free  to  decide  whether  to  take  the 
road  to  Washington,  Annapolis,  or  Baltimore.  While  rest 
ing  within  a  few  miles  of  Nottingham,  squads  of  British  sol 
diers  were  sent  out  to  scour  the  neighboring  woods,  where  it 
had  been  represented  by  some  of  the  country  people,  prob 
ably  slaves  impressed  as  guides  into  the  service  of  the 
enemy,  "  numerous  detached  bodies  of  riflemen  lay  in  am 
bush  amid  the  thickets;"  and  Mr.  Grleig  relates  "a  little 
adventure,"  which  he  says  occurred  to  himself  on  one  of 
these  excursions,  premising  that  it  illustrates  what  he  was 
pleased  to  style  "  the  low  cunning  which  forms  a  leading 
trait  in  the  American  character."  He  says  they  surrounded 
two  men  dressed  in  black  coats,  and  armed  with  bright  fire- 

21 


322  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

locks  and  bayonets,  sitting  under  a  tree.  "  As  soon,"  he 
says,  "  as  they  observed  me,  they  started  up  and  took  to 
their  heels,  but,  being  hemmed  in  on  all  sides,  they  quickly 
perceived  that  to  escape  was  impossible,  and,  accordingly, 
stood  still.  I  hastened  toward  them,  and,  having  got  within 
a  few  paces,  I  heard  the  one  say  to  the  other,  with  a  look 
of  the  most  perfect  simplicity,  '  Stop,  John,  till  the  gentle 
men  pass.'  There  was  something  so  ludicrous  in  this 
speech,  and  in  the  cast  of  countenance  which  accompanied 
it,  that  I  could  not  help  laughing  aloud ;  nor  was  my  mirth 
diminished  by  their  attempts  to  persuade  me  that  they  were 
quiet  country  people,  come  out  for  no  other  purpose  than 
to  shoot  squirrels.  When  I  desired  to  know  whether  they 
carried  bayonets  to  charge  the  squirrels,  as  well  as  muskets 
to  shoot  them,  they  were  rather  at  a  loss  for  a  reply ;  but 
they  grumbled  exceedingly  when  they  found  themselves 
prisoners  and  conducted  as  such  to  the  column." 

During  the  night  of  August  21  the  enemy  remained  at 
Nottingham, — their  boats  and  tenders  were  anchored  there, 
— and  the  next  day,  soon  after  daybreak,  the  whole  moved 
forward  again ;  but  in  such  a  way,  first  on  one  road  and 
then  on  the  other,  or  by  dividing  their  forces,  some  taking 
the  road  toward  Fort  Washington  and  some  toward  An 
napolis,  as  to  keep  General  Winder  in  the  dark  respect 
ing  their  real  purpose,  as  well  as  to  weary  out  his  troops 
by  constant  watching.  As  the  enemy  advanced,  our  troops 
retired.  By  two  o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of  August  22, 
General  Ross,  supported  by  Rear- Admiral  Cockburn,  had 
reached  Maryborough,  "  where  he  remained  until  the  same 
hour  next  day,  having,  of  course,  abundant  time  to  rest  and 
refresh  his  troops,  and  being  perfectly  unmolested."  Late 
in  the  afternoon  of  the  22d,  General  Winder,  with  the  cav 
alry  of  observation,  retired  to  the  Long  Old  Fields,  ten 
miles  from  Bladensburg,  where  his  troops  were  encamped. 
Here  "  he  was  informed  that  the  President  and  heads  of 
departments  had  arrived  at  a  house  one  mile  in  the  rear  of 


THE  BATTLE  OF  BLADENSBURG.  323 

the  camp."  About  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  23d 
his  troops  were  roused  by  "  a  false  alarm  from  a  sentinel, 
were  formed  in  order  of  battle,  and,  when  dismissed,  were 
ordered  to  hold  themselves  ready  for  their  posts  at  a  mo 
ment's  warning."  This  was  the  second  night  in  succession 
in  which  they  had  been  deprived  of  their  rest.  Before  nine 
o'clock  in  the  forenoon  they  were  under  arms  again,  and 
were  reviewed  by  the  President  and  suite.  General  Stans- 
bury  was  now  at  Bladensburg  in  command  of  the  Baltimore 
troops.  The  enemy  still  pressing  forward  toward  the  Long 
Old  Fields,  General  Smith  had,  agreeably  to  orders,  sent 
off  the  baggage  across  the  Eastern  Branch,  and  his  troops, 
together  with  Commodore  Barney's  men,  were  drawn  up 
ready  to  receive  the  enemy  should  he  make  an  attack. 
Orders  had  been  sent  to  the  city  for  the  removal  of  the 
public  records,  and  the  most  important  of  these  in  the 
State  Department,  and  probably  also  in  the  War  Depart 
ment,  both  being  in  the  same  building,  were  taken  first  to 
an  unoccupied  mill  on  the  Virginia  side,  near  the  Chain 
Bridge,  a  few  miles  above  Georgetown,  and  soon  afterward 
to  Leesburg. 

The  head  of  the  enemy's  column,  by  three  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  23d,  was  about  five  miles  from  Maryborough 
and  within  three  miles  of  General  Winder's  position,  where 
they  halted.  This  being  "  at  a  point  from  whence  they 
could  take  the  road  to  Bladensburg,  to  the  Eastern  Branca 
bridge,  or  to  Fort  Washington,  indifferently,  or  it  might  be 
to  cover  their  march  upon  Annapolis,"  great  doubt  was 
yet  entertained  which  course  the  British  meant  to  pursue. 
Their  force  was  still  "  very  imperfectly  known,  opinions 
and  representations  varying,  General  Winder  says,  from 
four  to  twelve  thousand,  the  better  opinion  fixed  it  at  from 
five  to  seven  thousand,"  while  his  force  at  Long  Old  Fields 
numbered  only  about  twenty-five  hundred.  In  this  state 
of  doubt  and  uncertainty,  after  waiting  for  the  enemy  until 
sundown,  General  Winder  determined,  he  said,  to  retire 


324  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

over  the  lower  Eastern  Branch  bridge,  and,  Commodore 
Barney  concurring,  they  retired  with  their  respective  com 
mands  accordingly,  and  encamped  in  the  city  that  night, 
when  by  his  order  the  upper  bridge  over  the  Eastern 
Branch  was  destroyed.  The  President  and  heads  of  de 
partments  likewise  left  and  went  home.  Commodore  Bar 
ney  posted  his  artillery  so  as  to  command  the  lower  bridge 
at  the  Navy  Yard. 

About  ten  o'clock  next  day,  the  24th,  General  Winder 
"  received  intelligence  that  the  enemy  had  turned  the  head 
of  his  column  toward  Bladensburg,"  leaving  now  no  further 
doubt  of  his  intention  to  strike  for  Washington.  General 
Winder  at  once  ordered  General  Smith  with  the  whole  of 
the  troops  to  move  immediately  to  that  point,  while  he  him 
self,  "  leaving  the  President  and  some  of  the  heads  of  de 
partments  at  his  quarters,  where  they  had  been  for  an  hour 
or  more,"  hastened  forward  and  arrived  at  the  Bladensburg 
bridge  about  twelve  o'clock,  where  he  found  Colonel  Beall 
had  that  moment  passed  his  command,  having  just  arrived 
from  Annapolis.  Upon  inquiry,  he  learned  that  General 
Stansbury  was  on  rising  ground  on  the  left  of  his  line, 
where  he  soon  found  him  and  Colonel  Monroe,  who  had 
been  aiding  General  Stansbury  to  post  his  command. 
Meantime,  General  Smith  with  his  troops  had  arrived  on 
the  ground,  and  "  Commodore  Barney's  men  and  marines 
were  halted  on  the  turnpike  about  a  mile"  nearer  the  city, 
in  the  rear  of  the  main  force. 

Of  this  final  struggle,  all  the  accounts  seem  to  agree  as  to 
the  main  facts.  About  one  o'clock  of  the  24th,  a  column 
of  the  enemy  appeared  in  sight,  moving  up  the  Eastern 
Branch  parallel  to  the  position  of  our  troops.  A  galling 
fire  from  the  advanced  artillery  and  Major  Pinkney's  bat 
talion  of  Baltimore  riflemen  was  immediately  opened  upon 
them  with  terrible  effect  as  they  were  descending  the  street 
toward  the  bridge.  Mr.  Gleig,  referring  to  this  encounter, 
says :  "  While  we  [the  British  troops]  were  moving  along 


THE  BATTLE  OF  BLADENSBURG.  325 

the  street,  a  continued  fire  was  kept  up,  with  some  execu 
tion,  from  those  guns  which  stood  at  the  left  of  the  road, 
but  it  was  not  till  the  bridge  was  covered  with  our  people 
that  the  two-gun  battery  on  the  road  itself  began  to  play. 
Then,  indeed,  it  also  opened,  and  with  tremendous  effect; 
for  at  the  first  discharge  almost  an  entire  company  was 
swept  down."  This  caused  the  enemy  to  leave  the  street, 
and  they  crept  down  under  cover  of  houses  and  trees,  in 
loose  order,  so  as  not  to  expose  themselves  to  risk  from  the 
shot;  it  was  therefore  only  occasionally  that  an  object  pre 
sented  at  which  the  artillery  could  fire.  In  this  sort  of  sus 
pension  the  enemy  began  to  throw  rockets,  and  his  light 
troops  to  accumulate  down  in  the  lower  parts  of  the  town, 
near  the  bridge,  but  principally  covered  from  view  by  the 
houses,  and  soon  began  to  press  across  the  creek,  every 
where  fordable,  and  in  most  places  lined  with  bushes  and 
trees,  which  sufficiently  concealed  their  movements.  The 
advanced  American  riflemen  fired  half  a  dozen  rounds, 
when  they  retreated  twenty  or  thirty  yards  while  the 
enemy's  rockets,  being  at  first  aimed  too  high,  were  flying 
over  their  heads.  The  President  and  Attorney-General 
Richard  Rush  were  briskly  riding  toward  Bladensburg, 
just  before  the  battle  begun,  without  perceiving  that  the 
British  were  so  near  as  to  be  almost  within  musket  range, 
and  they  were  in  great  danger  of  being  captured.  They 
turned  into  the  orchard  among  our  troops,  where  they  met 
the  Secretaries  of  State  and  War,  and  where  the  greatest 
consternation  was  manifest.  Soon  the  rockets  "  received  a 
more  horizontal  direction,  and  passed  very  close  above  the 
heads  of  Shultz's  and  Ragan's  regiments,  composing  the 
entire  left  of  Stansbury's  line.  A  universal  flight  of  these 
regiments  was  the  consequence ;"  nor  could  they  be  rallied, 
with  the  exception  of  about  forty  men  of  Colonel  Ragan's 
and  a  part  of  Captain  Showers'  command,  who,  although 
thus  deserted,  made  a  gallant  but  ineffectual  stand.  Colo 
nel  Ragan,  in  his  great  efforts  to  rally  his  men,  was 


326  TUENING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

wounded  and  taken  prisoner.  Major  William  Pinkney, 
the  eloquent  lawyer  and  distinguished  statesman,  was  also 
seriously  wounded.  The  Fifth  Baltimore  regiment,  under 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Sterrett,  being  the  left  of  General  Stans- 
bury's  brigade,  still  stood  its  ground,  and  except  for  a 
moment,  when  part  of  them  recoiled  a  few  steps,  remained 
firm  until  ordered  to  retreat.  The  reserve  under  General 
Smith,  with  the  militia  of  Washington  and  Georgetown, 
the  regulars,  and  some  detachments  of  Maryland  militia, 
flanked  on  their  right  by  Commodore  Barney  and  his  men, 
and  Colonel  Beall,  maintained  the  contest  with  great  effect 
until  overpowered  by  numbers. 

Commodore  Barney  had  taken  position,  with  three  18- 
pounders,  between  General  Stansbury's  and  General  Smith's 
commands,  not  far  from  the  noted  duelling-ground,  and, 
feebly  supported  by  Colonel  BealFs  militia  on  a  neighbor 
ing  eminence,  by  a  well-directed  fire  the  enemy  was  held  in 
suspense  and  suffered  severely  more  than  an  hour,  until  the 
British  General,  Ross,  advanced  with  fresh  troops  to  the 
rescue.  All  accounts  agree  that  the  most  stubborn  resist 
ance  was  made  under  Commodore  Barney,  whose  brave 
marines  fought  "  until  the  enemy  reached  nearly  to  the 
muzzles  of  the  guns ;  nor  did  they  retire  until  ordered  to 
do  so,  after  every  hope  of  victory  vanished."  The  British 
narrator,  Gleig,  says  the  sailors  not  only  "  served  their  guns 
with  a  quickness  and  precision  which  astonished  their 
assailants,  but  they  stood  till  some  of  them  were  actually 
bayoneted,  with  fuses  in  their  hands ;  nor  was  it  till  their 
leader  was  wounded  and  taken,  and  they  saw  themselves 
deserted  on  all  sides  by  the  soldiers,  that  they  quitted  the 
field."  The  gallant  commander,  as  he  was  preparing  to 
withdraw  from  an  untenable  position,  received  a  ball  in  the 
upper  part  of  his  thigh,  which  was  never  extracted,  and  of 
which  wound  he  died  several  years  afterward.  Thirteen 
of  his  men  were  killed  in  action  before  the  order  for  retreat 
was  given. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  BLADENSBUEG.  327 

This  ended  the  battle.  Although  General  Winder  hoped 
to  be  able  to  rally  his  troops  and  make  another  stand  near 
the  Capitol,  his  forces  were  so  disorganized  and  scattered 
that  he  found  it  impossible ;  and  both  the  Secretary  of  War 
and  Secretary  of  State  concurred  with  him  that  "  it  was 
wise  and  proper  to  retire  through  Georgetown  and  take 
post  in  the  rear  of  it,  on  the  height,  to  collect  his  force." 
lie  "  accordingly  pursued  this  course,  and  halted  at  Ten- 
nallytown,  two  miles  from  Georgetown,  on  the  Frederick 
road."  General  Armstrong  suggested  throwing  our  troops 
into  the  Capitol  building,  but  this  plan  was  at  once  dis 
missed  as  impracticable,  "  since  it  would  have  taken  nearly 
the  whole  of  them  to  have  sufficiently  filled  the  two  wings, 
which  would  have  left  the  enemy  masters  of  every  other 
part  of  the  city." 

Meantime  the  President  and  heads  of  departments  had 
made  their  escape  in  advance  of  the  retreating  troops,  and 
the  utmost  terror  reigned  in  the  cities  of  Washington  and 
Georgetown.  A  letter  in  the  Baltimore  Patriot  of  August 
26,  from  an  eye-witness,  says :  "  The  President,  who  had 
been  on  horseback  with  the  army  the  whole  day,  retired 
from  the  mortifying  scene  and  left  the  city  on  horseback 
accompanied  by  General  Mason  and  Mr.  Carroll.  At 
Georgetown,  the  President  met  his  lady,  she  having  left 
the  city  only  half  an  hour  before,  having  remained  with 
great  composure  at  the  President's  house  until  a  message 
brought  her  the  tidings  that  the  British  were  within  a  few 
miles  of  the  city,  and  that  our  army  was  retreating  with 
out  any  chance  of  being  rallied  so  as  to  check  their  march. 
The  President  and  Secretary  of  State  went  to  Virginia  with 
their  families,  the  other  officers  of  the  government  to  Fred- 
ericktown,  where  the  President  intends  to  meet  his  secre 
taries  next  week."  I  may  add  that  our  soldiers  did  not 
tarry  long  at  Tennallytown,  but  kept  on  to  Montgomery 
Court  House. 

I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  the  President  met  his  car- 


328  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

riage  on  reaching  the  city,  as  I  found  in  the  Richmond 
Enquirer,  of  August  27,  a  statement  to  the  effect  that  two 
gentlemen,  who  passed  through  Washington  on  the  day  of 
the  battle,  when  about  to  start  from  Pennsylvania  Avenue 
for  the  Long  Bridge,  heard  the  cry  "  There  goes  the  Pres 
ident  !"  and  looking,  they  saw  him  driving  in  his  carriage 
towards  the  President's  house.  They  had  come  in  a  stage 
from  Baltimore,  and  the  first  intimation  they  had  of  danger 
was  on  the  road  near  Bladensburg,  where  they  were  met  by 
shrieking  wromen  who  reported  that  the  enemy  were  ap 
proaching,  and  the  stage  came  into  the  city  in  a  roundabout 
way.  Mr.  Charles  J.  Ingersoll  says  :  "  After  Barney's  and 
Miller's  defeat  and  retreat  [Miller  was  captain  of  the 
marines],  Ross  attempted  nothing  further.  One-fifth  of  his 
army  was  killed,  wounded,  or  missing,  for  they  deserted 
whenever  they  could,  and  the  rest  were  so  entirely  over 
come  by  their  labors  and  exertions  from  early  in  the  morn 
ing  until  four  o'clock  [when  the  contest,  begun  at  one 
o'clock,  ended]  that  they  were  incapable  of  further  effort. 
Rest  was  indispensable  to  them,  and  as  they  lay  on  the 
ground  it  was  Barney's  opinion,  freely  expressed,  that  five 
hundred  well-disciplined  cavalry  could  have  rode  through 
and  taken  them  all,  almost  without  waking  them  from  their 
heavy  slumbers.  Cockburn's  jocular  and  contemptuous 
ofiicial  reason  for  not  pursuing  was,  that  the  victors  were 
too  weary  and  the  vanquished  too  swift." 

There  is  no  doubt  as  to  the  exhausted  condition  of  a  large 
part  of  the  forces  of  both  armies.  The  weather  wras  very 
hot ;  many  of  our  troops  had  been  without  proper  food  and 
rest  for  three  or  four  days ;  and  a  writer  in  the  Baltimore 
Patriot  states  that  the  British  soldiers  "  were  so  overpowered 
by  their  rapid  march  that  many  of  them  fell  dead  on  the 
road.  As  they  passed  through  Bladensburg  their  mouths 
\vere  open,  gasping  for  breath,  and  their  officers  were  order 
ing  them  forward  with  their  swords  and  spontoons.  Twelve 
were  buried  in  one  field  that  had  not  a  wound."  The  Na- 


THE  BATTLE  OF  BLADENSBURG.  329 

tional  Intelligencer,  of  September  1,  says :  "  The  loss  of  the 
enemy  before  he  regained  his  ships  [on  the  29th  of  August] 
probably  exceeded  a  thousand  men.  He  lost  at  least  two 
hundred  killed  in  the  battle  and  by  explosion,  and  three  or 
four  hundred  wounded.  Many  died  of  fatigue,  numbers 
were  taken  prisoners  by  the  cavalry  hanging  on  his  rear, 
and  not  a  few  deserted."  Our  loss  was  twenty-six  killed 
and  fifty-one  wounded. 

On  August  20,  in  a  sharp  encounter  near  the  coast,  the 
British  lost  one  of  their  distinguished  officers,  Sir  Peter 
Parker,  commander  of  the  ship  Menelaus,  besides  thirteen 
soldiers  killed  and  twenty-seven  wounded.  According  to 
Niles's  Register,  he  had  said  he  "  must  have  a  frolic  with  the 
Yankees  before  he  left  them,"  and,  in  order  to  gratify  this 
desire,  he  went  out  with  a  detachment  to  surprise  Colonel 
Kead,  a  veteran  of  the  Revolutionary  war,  who,  with  one 
hundred  and  seventy  men,  was  watching  the  enemy  at 
Belair.  They  met  in  the  night,  and  in  the  "  frolic"  which 
ensued  Sir  Peter  received  a  mortal  wound  and  expired  in  a 
few  minutes.  It  is  worthy  of  note,  singular  as  it  may  seem, 
that,  for  this  military  exploit,  he  has  a  monument  in  West 
minster  Abbey. 

Accounts  vary  slightly  as  regards  the  entry  and  reception 
of  the  enemy  into  the  city.  A  correspondent  wrote  from 
Baltimore,  September  1 :  "  The  British  army  was  halted 
on  the  plain  near  the  capital.  General  Ross,  Admiral 
Cockburn,  and  some  other  officers,  with  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  men,  entered  the  city.  On  passing  a  house  near 
the  Capitol,  in  which  Mr.  Gallatin  formerly  resided,  a  shot 
from  a  window,  said  to  be  fired  by  a  French  barber,  killed 
the  horse  on  which  General  Ross  rode.  This  imprudent 
act  caused  the  destruction  of  the  house  and  adjoining  build 
ings."  Mr.  Chester  Bailey,  a  United  States  mail  contractor, 
purporting  to  be  an  eye-witness,  wrote  to  Paulson's  Adver 
tiser,  Philadelphia,  "  After  the  battle,  a  small  party  of  the 
British  entered  the  city  about  9  P.M.  ;  on  passing  the  first 


330  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

house  (this  was  at  the  corner  of  Second  Street  East  and  the 
old  Baltimore  turnpike,  which  had  been  occupied  by  Mr. 
Gallatin  when  Secretary  of  the  Treasury)  a  volley  was  fired 
from  the  windows,  which  killed  General  Boss's  horse  under 
him,  one  soldier,  and  wounded  three  others ;  the  house  was 
immediately  surrounded  and  some  prisoners  taken  (a  part 
of  them  were  negroes)  and  the  house  set  on  fire."  Inger- 
soll  says :  "  Having  given  his  exhausted  soldiers  some  in 
dispensable  repose,  Ross,  with  Cockburn,  attended  by  a 
body  guard  of  two  hundred  bayonets,  and  saluted  by  the 
fulminations  from  the  Navy  Yard,  rode  slowly  into  the 
wilderness  city,  whose  population  was  a  little  over  eight 
thousand,  scattered  over  large  spaces,  and  of  whom  almost 
every  male  was  then  absent,  either  in  arms,  some  distant 
hiding-place,  or  a  few  keeping  close  in  their  dwellings. 
Many  passed  the  night  in  huts  and  corn  fields  around  the 
town.  The  first  considerable  dwelling  the  enemy  was  to 
pass  had  been  Mr.  Gallatin's  residence,  the  house  of  Mrs. 
Sewell,  some  hundred  yards  from  the  Capitol.  From  be 
hind  the  side  wall  of  that  house,  as  is  supposed,  at  all  events 
from  or  near  to  it,  a  solitary  musket,  fired  by  some  excited, 
and  perhaps  intoxicated  person,  believed  to  be  a  well-known 
Irish  barber,  but  never  ascertained  who  was  the  perpetra 
tor,  no  doubt  aimed  at  General  Ross,  killed  the  bay  mare  he 
rode." 

Mr.  Gleig  said  it  was  General  Ross's  intention  only  "  to 
lay  the  city  under  contribution,  and  return  quietly  to  the 
shipping,"  and  that  therefore  "  he  did  not  march  the  troops 
immediately  to  the  city,  but  halted  them  upon  a  plain  in  its 
immediate  vicinity,  whilst  a  flag  of  truce  was  sent  in  with 
terms.  But  whatever  his  proposal  might  have  been,  it  was 
not  so  much  as  heard,  for  scarcely  had  the  party  bearing 
the  flag  entered  the  street  than  they  were  fired  upon  from 
the  windows  of  one  of  the  houses,  and  the  horse  of  the 
General  himself,  who  accompanied  them,  killed.  You  will 
easily  believe  that  conduct  so  unjustifiable,  so  direct  a 


BURNING  OF  WASHINGTON  IN   1814.  331 

breach  of  the  law  of  nations,  roused  the  indignation  of 
every  individual,  from  the  General  himself  down  to  the 
private  soldier.  All  thoughts  of  accommodation  were  in 
stantly  laid  aside ;  the  troops  advanced  forthwith  into  the 
town,  and  having  put  to  the  sword  all  who  were  found  in 
the  house  from  which  the  shots  were  fired,  and  reduced 
it  to  ashes,  they  proceeded,  without  a  moment's  delay,  to 
burn  and  destroy  everything  in  the  most  distant  degree 
connected  with  the  Government." 

It  is  proper  to  state  here  that  this  British  account  of  an 
intention  to  spare  the  city  is  not  credited,  as  Admiral  Cock- 
burn,  Commander-in-chief  of  the  British  fleet,  had,  under 
date  of  August  18,  addressed  a  letter  to  Secretary  Monroe, 
informing  him  that  he  had  received  instructions  from  his 
government  "  to  destroy  and  lay  waste  such  towns  and  dis 
tricts  on  the  coast  as  may  be  found  assailable,"  in  retalia 
tion  for  alleged  depredations  of  our  troops  in  Upper  Canada. 
The  Admiral,  however,  knew,  or  should  have  known,  that 
full  reparation  had  been  made  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
Governor  of  that  province  in  the  preceding  February,  and 
he  took  the  precaution  to  retain  his  threatening  letter  until 
ten  days  after  the  date  before  sending  it  off,  so  that  it  did 
not  reach  its  destination  until  August  31,  a  week  after  the 
burning  of  the  Capitol  and  other  Government  buildings. 
While  the  enemy  were  entering  the  city,  the  Navy  Yard 
was  being  destroyed  by  order  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
and  the  bridge  over  the  Eastern  Branch  there  was  also 
blown  up, — most  unnecessarily,  as  it  was  considered,  by 
United  States  engineers. 

The  first  public  building  set  on  fire  by  the  British  was 
the  Capitol.  The  British  column  continued  its  march  to 
the  eastern  front  of  that  edifice,  then  deployed  into  line, 
and  directing  a  volley  of  musketry  at  it,  took  formal  pos 
session  in  the  name  of  their  king.  It  is  a  singular  and  in 
teresting  historical  fact,  that  the  British  lieutenant  who 
forced  the  Capitol,  by  breaking  down  one  or  more  of  its 


332  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

doors,  was  afterwards  for  many  years  a  member  of  Parlia 
ment.  He  won  great  distinction  in  the  army,  serving  in 
India,  Portugal,  and  Spain,  before  he  was  sent  to  America, 
where  he  took  part  in  the  attacks  on  Washington  and  Bal 
timore,  and  was  wounded  before  New  Orleans.  He  served 
under  Wellington,  both  in  the  Peninsular  war  and  at 
Waterloo.  He  was  noted  for  volunteering  for  storming 
parties.  In  1835,  he  commanded  a  British  auxiliary  legion 
of  ten  thousand  men  in  aid  of  the  Queen  of  Spain  against 
Don  Carlos ;  was  a  lieutenant-general  in  the  Crimean  war, 
"  and  for  his  services  at  the  Alma  and  Inkerman  he  re 
ceived  the  thanks  of  Parliament,  and  the  grand  cross  of 
the  Bath,  and  was  made  a  grand  officer  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor."  This  was  Sir  De  Lacy  Evans,  who  was  born  in 
1787  and  died  in  1870. 

Finding  that  the  Capitol  was  partially  fire-proof,  it  was 
at  first  decided  to  blow  it  up  with  gunpowder,  but,  this 
determination  being  announced  to  the  citizens  nearest  the 
building,  their  "  expostulations,  together  with  the  entreaties 
of  the  ladies,  induced  the  general  to  order  it  to  be  set  fire 
to  in  every  vulnerable  point,  and  it  was  soon  enveloped  in 
flames."  Mr.  Ingersoll  states  that  it  was  among  the  stories 
told  when  Congress  met  three  weeks  afterwards,  "  that  the 
Admiral  (Cockburn),  in  a  strain  of  coarse  levity,  mounting 
the  Speaker's  chair,  put  the  question,  '  Shall  this  harbor  of 
Yankee  democracy  be  burned  ?  All  for  it  will  say,  Aye ;' 
to  which  loud  cries  of  assent  bein^  vociferated,  he  reversed 

O 

the  question,  pronounced  it  carried  unanimously,  and  the 
mock  resolution  was  executed  by  rockets  and  other  com 
bustibles  applied  to  the  chairs  and  furniture  (as  well  as 
library  books  and  papers)  heaped  up  in  the  centre  and  fired 
wherever  there  was  a  fit  place.  The  temporary  wooden 
structure  connecting  the  two  wings  readily  kindled.  Doors, 
chairs,  the  consumable  parts,  the  library  and  its  contents  in 
an  upper  room  of  the  Senate  wing,  everything  that  would 
take  fire,  soon  disappeared  in  sheets  of  flame,  illuminating 


BURNING  OF  WASHINGTON  IN  1814.  333 

and  consternating  the  environs  for  thirty  miles  around, 
whence  the  conflagration  was  visible.  In  a  room  adjoining 
the  Senate  chamber  portraits  of  the  King  and  Queen  of 
France,  Louis  the  XVI.  and  his  wife,  were  cut  from  the 
frames,  by  whom  has  never  appeared.  The  frames  were 
scorched,  but  not  burned."  Some  parts  of  the  building, 
being  fire-proof,  escaped  the  flames,  notably  the  vestibule 
of  the  Supreme  Court  Law  Library,  where  some  of  the 
columns  are  ornamented  with  a  unique  and  beautiful 
American  order  of  architecture,  representing  Indian  corn 
in  the  ear. 

The  Capitol,  with  its  library  and  most  of  its  public  records, 
being  thus  destroyed,  the  troops,  headed  by  Ross  and  Cock- 
burn,  and  conducted  by  a  former  resident  (who  was  soon 
after  arrested  as  a  traitor),  marched  along  Pennsylvania 
Avenue,  "without  beat  of  drum  or  other  martial  sound 
than  their  ponderous  tramp,"  and  set  fire  to  the  President's 
house  and  Treasury  building.  Mr.  Gleig  states  that  "  when 
this  detachment,  sent  out  to  destroy  Mr.  Madison's  house, 
entered  his  dining  parlor,  they  found  a  dinner-table  spread 
and  covers  laid  for  forty  guests.  Several  kinds  of  wine  in 
handsome  cut-glass  decanters  were  cooling  on  the  side 
board;  plate-holders  stood  by  the  fire-place  filled  with 
dishes  and  plates ;  knives,  forks,  and  spoons  were  arranged 
for  immediate  use ;  in  short,  everything  was  ready  for  the 
entertainment  of  a  ceremonious  party."  They  sat  down  to 
this  dinner,  he  says,  "  not  indeed  in  the  most  orderly  man 
ner,  but  with  countenances  which  would  not  have  disgraced 

O 

a  party  of  aldermen  at  a  civic  feast ;  and  having  satisfied 
their  appetites  and  partaken  pretty  freely  of  the  wines, 
they  finished  by  setting  fire  to  the  house  which  had  so  lib 
erally  entertained  them."  This  grand  dinner  was  no  doubt 
a  myth.  The  story  is  improbable  for  various  reasons.  In 
the  first  place,  the  President  had  been  with  the  army  in  the 
field  much  of  the  time,  for  the  two  or  three  days  the  great 
est  alarm  and  confusion  prevailed  among  the  inhabitants 


334  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

remaining  in  the  city,  and  we  have  the  testimony  of  the 
President's  porter,  not  only  that  there  was  no  preparation 
for  dinner  or  eating  beyond  a  small  quantity  of  meat  in  the 
kitchen,  but  if  there  had  been  food,  that  the  British  would 
not  have  eaten  it,  such  was  their  fear  of  poison.  Mr. 
Bailey,  before  cited,  however,  in  his  account,  says  the 
troops  entered  and  took  some  powder  and  collected  some 
papers,  and  soon  an  explosion  was  heard  and  the  house 
was  seen  on  fire.  The  Treasury  Office,  he  adds,  was  also 
soon  on  fire ;  the  President's  house  being  first  despoiled  of 
a  few  objects  of  curiosity — some  pictures  and  books  from 
Mr.  Madison's  library,  and  a  parcel  of  the  pencil  notes 
received  by  Mrs.  Madison  from  her  husband  while  he  was 
with  the  troops.  Before  leaving  the  house  she  had  seen  to 
the  removal  of  many  valuable  articles,  including  the  full- 
length  portrait  of  Washington,  still  preserved  in  the  White 
House.  It  has  been  often  said  that,  in  order  to  save  this 
portrait,  she  cut  it  from  the  frame,  which  it  appears  she 
was  ready,  knife  in  hand,  to  do,  but  fortunately  those 
assisting  succeeded  in  detaching  it  from  the  gilt  frame  and 
preserving  it  intact  on  the  inner  wooden  frame.  She  is 
likewise  credited  with  having  saved  the  original  Declara 
tion  of  Independence. 

The  Hon.  J.  H.  B.  Latrobe,  President  of  the  Maryland 
Historical  Society,  kindly  placed  in  my  hands  an  interesting 
letter  written  to  his  mother  by  Mrs.  Madison,  December  3, 
1814,  giving  a  graphic  account  of  her  escape  from  the 
White  House.  As  an  excuse  for  delay,  she  says  that  she 
wrote  a  long  letter,  then  in  her  drawer  unfinished  and  out 
of  date,  her  husband  having  been  taken  sick  before  she  had 
described  all  her  adventures,  and  continued  indisposed  so 
long  that  she  lost  the  thread  of  her  story  and  became 
ashamed  of  her  egotism.  She  continues  : 

"  Two  hours  before  the  enemy  entered  the  city,  I  left  the  house  where 
Mr.  Latrobe's  elegant  taste  had  been  so  justly  admired,  and  where  you 
and  I  had  so  often  wandered  together,  and  on  that  very  day  I  sent  out  the 


BURNING  OF  WASHINGTON  IN  1814.  335 

silver  (nearly  all) — the  velvet  curtains  and  General  Washington's  picture, 
the  cabinet  papers,  a  few  books,  and  the  small  clock — left  everything  else 
belonging  to  the  publick,  our  own  valuable  stores  of  every  description,  a 
part  of  my  clothes,  and  all  my  servants'  clothes,  &c.,  &c.,  in  short,  it 
would  fatigue  you  to  read  the  list  of  my  losses,  or  an  account  of  the  gen 
eral  dismay,  or  particular  distresses  of  your  acquaintance.  Mrs.  Hunter 
and  Mrs.  Thompson  were  the  only  ladies  who  stood  their  ground.  I 
confess  that  I  was  so  unfeminine  as  to  be  free  from  fear,  and  willing  to 
remain  in  the  Castle.  If  I  could  have  had  a  cannon  through  every  win 
dow,  but,  alas !  those  who  should  have  placed  them  there,  fled  before  me, 
and  my  whole  heart  mourned  for  my  country !  I  remained  nearly  three 
days  out  of  town,  but  I  cannot  tell  you  what  I  felt  on  re-entering  it — 
such  destruction — such  confusion  !  The  fleet  full  in  view  and  in  the  act 
of  robbing  Alexandria!  The  citizens  expecting  another  visit — and  at 
night  the  rockets  were  seen  flying  near  us !" 

In  a  letter  to  his  wife,  October  14,  1814,  William  Wirt 
wrote : 

"I  went  to  look  at  the  ruins  of  the  President's  house.  The  rooms 
which  you  saw  so  richly  furnished,  exhibited  nothing  but  unroofed 
naked  walls,  cracked,  defaced,  and  blackened  with  fire.  I  cannot  tell  you 
what  I  felt  as  I  walked  amongst  them.  .  .  .  From  this  mournful  monu 
ment  of  American  imbecility  and  improvidence,  and  of  British  atrocity, 
I  went  to  the  lobby  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  a  miserable  little 
narrow  box,  in  which  I  was  crowded  and  suffocated  for  about  three  hours, 
in  order  to  see  and  hear  the  wise  men  of  the  nation.  They  are  no  great 
things.  ...  I  called  on  the  President.  He  looks  miserably  shattered 
and  woe-begone.  In  short,  he  looked  heart-broken.  His  mind  is  full  of 
the  New  England  sedition." 

Besides  his  excellent  library,  Mr.  Madison  lost  a  large 
amount  of  other  private  property,  estimated  at  twelve  thou 
sand  dollars.  Whilst  these  buildings  were  blazing,  eleven 
of  the  British  officers,  including  Ross  and  Cockburn,  were 
taking  a  supper  at  Mrs.  Suter's  boarding-house  near  by, 
which  General  Ross  had  ordered  before  applying  the  torch, 
insisting  against  the  good  woman's  protest  that  he  preferred 
her  house  to  McLeod's  tavern  across  the  way  "because 
[he  said]  he  had  some  acquaintance  with  her,  mentioning 
several  familiar  circumstances,"  showing  that  he  had  been 


336  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

there,  no  doubt  as  a  spy,  before  the  battle.  The  woman 
who  waited  at  the  table  recognized  two  of  the  party,  one  of 
them,  wretchedly  dressed,  pretending  to  be  a  deserter  from 
the  British  army,  having  a  few  days  before  called  at  the 
house  and  begged  for  something  to  eat.  Another  had  also 
been  there  previously,  and  was  acquainted  with  the  locali 
ties.  Mr.  Ingersoll,  who  received  his  information  from  the 
landlady  herself,  asserts  that  when  the  party  came  for  sup 
per,  one  of  them,  dressed  in  blue  and  mounted  on  a  mule, 
rode  partly  through  the  low  front  door  into  the  house,  in 
troducing  himself  as  the  much-abused  Admiral  Cockburn. 
At  table  he  blew  out  the  candles,  saying  he  preferred  the 
light  of  the  burning  palace  and  Treasury,  whose  conflagra 
tion  hard  by  illuminated  the  room.  The  following  ap 
peared  in  the  Intelligencer  a  few  days  afterwards : 

"  Look  out  for  spies  I  It  is  an  impression  now  very  general  that  the  fall 
of  this  city  may  be  ascribed  to  the  facility  with  which  spies  and  traitors 
carried  on  their  operations  even  within  a  week  preceding  the  capture  by 
the  enemy.  With  a  view  to  warn  our  neighbors  against  the  evil  into 
which  it  appears  our  citizens  fell,  we  shall  state  a  singular  fact,  which  is 
susceptible  of  legal  proof.  The  lady  of  a  house  where  the  British  offi 
cers  supped  on  the  evening  they  entered  the  city,  recognized  among  them 
a  person  who  had  been  at  her  house,  and  even  called  on  Mrs.  Madison 
in  the  President's  house  (as  the  person  declared)  in  the  disguise  of  a  dis 
tressed  woman,  on  the  Saturday  preceding  the  capture !  This  is  a  fact 
which  may  be  relied  on.  The  number  and  names  of  all  the  landlady's 
family,  then  absent,  were  also  known  to  this  officer,  with  whom  were  Gen 
eral  Ross  and  Cockburn,  the  incendiary." 

After  destroying  the  Capitol,  President's  house,  and 
Treasury  building,  the  British  retired  for  the  night  to  their 
main  army  in  camp  on  Capitol  Hill.  The  edifice  of  the 
State  and  War  Departments  and  the  building  occupied  by 
the  Patent  and  General  Post  Office,  on  the  present  site  of 
the  latter  department,  being  still  unharmed,  they  sallied 
out  again  on  the  morning  of  the  25th,  with  orders  to  com 
mit  them  also  to  the  flames,  together  with  the  printing 
office  of  the  Intelligencer.  On  their  way  up  the  avenue  they 


BUKNING  OF  WASHINGTON  IN  1814.  337 

were  confronted  by  a  young  man  on  horseback,  whose  name 
was  Lewis,  "  claiming  relationship  to  General  Washing 
ton,"  who  discharged  a  pistol  at  them,  when  he  was  in 
stantly  shot  down.  It  was  said  he  thought  thus  to  avenge 
himself  for  having  been  impressed  on  a  British  ship  and 
compelled  to  fight  against  his  own  country.  The  column 
kept  on  and  the  State  and  War  Department  building  was 
soon  in  ashes,  but  the  Patent  Office  was  spared  through  the 
earnest  intercession  of  its  chief,  Dr.  William  Thornton, 
Rev.  O.  B.  Brown,  and  other  citizens,  who  urged  that  it 
would  be  a  shame  and  disgrace  to  burn  the  valuable  models 
and  drawings  deposited  there,  which  would  be  useful  to  all 
mankind.  Thus  the  Post  Office,  too,  was  saved.  Coming 
to  the  office  of  the  Intelligencer,  which  was  obnoxious  to 
British  vengeance  on  account  of  its  bold  denunciation  of 
British  barbarities  in  the  destruction  and  pillage  of  private 
property  on  the  coast  and  elsewhere,  the  incendiary  torch 
was  about  to  be  applied  to  that  building,  when,  seeing  that 
its  conflagration  would  involve  the  destruction  of  several 
other  private  buildings  adjacent  thereto,  the  officer  in 
charge  was  prevailed  on  to  spare  it,  taking  care,  however, 
to  destroy  the  editor's  library  and  the  presses  and  other 
printing  materials  of  the  establishment.  "  Be  sure,"  said 
Cockburn,  "  that  all  the  C's  are  destroyed,  so  that  the  ras 
cals  can  have  no  further  means  of  abusing  my  name  as  they 
have  done.  I'll  punish  Madison's  man  Joe  (Gales)  as  I  have 
his  master  Jim." 

While  this  devastation  was  going  on,  another  detachment 
of  troops,  both  soldiers  and  sailors,  was  sent  to  complete 
the  destruction  at  the  Navy  Yard  and  Arsenal,  which  had 
been  partially  destroyed  by  order  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  with  one  or  more  war  ships  lying  in  the  river. 
Having,  as  they  thought,  accomplished  their  vandal  work, 
among  other  things  mutilating  the  Naval  Monument,  after 
wards  removed  to  the  basin  at  the  west  front  of  the  Capitol, 
and  thence,  a  few  years  ago,  to  Annapolis,  Mr.  Ingersoll 

22 


338  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

states  that  one  of  the  men,  as  they  were  about  leaving 
Greenleaf 's  Point,  where  the  Arsenal  was  located,  "  pitched 
his  torch,  as  a  safe  place  for  extinguishment,"  into  a  dry 
well  where  large  quantities  of  gunpowder,  shells,  and  other 
munitions  of  war  had  been  concealed,  when, "  with  a  terrible 
crash,  the  mine  instantly  exploded,  flinging  missiles  of  death 
and  mutilation  wide  around,  killing  and  cruelly  wounding 
near  a  hundred  of  the  surrounding  destroyers."  Mr.  Ed 
ward  Simins,  of  Washington,  a  well-preserved  gentleman 
of  ninety  years,  who  was  officially  mentioned  for  his 
bravery  at  the  battle  of  Bladensburg,  told  me,  a  few  weeks 
before  his  death,  which  occurred  on  the  14th  of  February, 
1884,  that  this  explosion  was  caused,  not  by  the  throwing 
of  a  torch  into  the  well,  but  from  the  ignition  of  a  train 
of  powder  which  had  fallen  from  the  kegs  in  their  removal 
to  the  well.  This  seems  more  probable,  since  the  incendi 
aries  were  sent  to  burn  and  not  to  extinguish.  An  officer 
of  the  British  ship  Regulus,  writing  home  at  the  time,  and 
giving  an  account  of  this  disaster,  states  the  number  killed 
as  "  about  twelve,  and  wounded  about  thirty  more,  most 
of  them  in  a  dreadful  manner."  He  says  he  had  the  good 
fortune  to  escape  with  whole  skin  and  bones,  but  somewhat 
bruised,  adding,  "  the  groans  of  the  people,  almost  buried 
in  the  earth,  or  with  legs  and  arms  broke,  and  the  sight  of 
pieces  of  bodies  lying  about,  was  a  thousand  times  more 
distressing  than  the  loss  we  met  with  in  the  field  the  day 
before."  Major  Williams  thinks  the  British  loss  was  un 
derstated  by  this  officer. 

On  the  night  of  the  24th,  or  following  day,  the  Long 
Bridge  over  the  Potomac  was  rendered  impassable  by  the 
burning  or  blowing  up  of  both  ends — the  Washington  end 
by  the  British,  and  that  on  the  Virginia  side  by  a  corporal 
in  charge  of  it,  perceiving,  as  he  thought,  a  body  of  the 
enemy  about  to  cross  from  the  city ;  whilst,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  British  were  equally  panic-stricken  under  the 
apprehension  that  our  troops,  to  the  number,  as  they  sup- 


BURNING  OF  WASHINGTON  IN  1814.  339 

posed,  of  twelve  thousand  or  more,  were  on  their  way  from 
the  other  side  to  recapture  the  city.  That  night  a  complete 
Bull-Run  panic  reigned  on  both  sides.  "  Early  in  the  even 
ing,"  says  a  British  officer  who  was  present,  "  the  different 
British  corps  had  been  directed,  in  a  whisper,  to  make  ready 
for  falling  back  as  soon  as  darkness  should  set  in.  From 
the  men,  however,  the  thing  was  kept  profoundly  secret," 
although  they  were  given  to  understand  that  an  important 
movement  was  about  to  take  place,  and  hints  were  thrown 
out  to  induce  the  expectation  of  a  further  advance  instead 
of  a  retreat,  which  was  carried  out  with  all  the  secrecy  and 
silence  possible  before  morning.  While  the  ruthless  in 
vaders  were  thus  stealing  away  in  alarm  on  account  of  the 
non-arrival  of  their  fleet  at  Alexandria,  as  expected,  and 
what  they  had  erroneously  supposed  was  a  greatly  aug 
mented  force  of  American  troops  ready  to  swoop  down 
upon  them  from  Georgetown  Heights,  the  President  and 
heads  of  departments,  with  Mrs.  Madison,  having  crossed 
over  into  Virginia  the  evening  before,  had  made  their  way 
to  the  point  of  rendezvous — a  tavern  sixteen  miles  from 
Georgetown,  where  they  were  to  spend  the  night.  At 
midnight  they  were  startled  by  a  report  that  the  British 
were  coming ;  and  it  had  been  given  out  that  it  was  their 
purpose,  if  possible,  to  capture  the  President  and  take  him 
to  London.  Telling  his  wife  to  disguise  herself,  use  another 
carriage  than  her  own,  and  fly  still  further,  the  President 
left  "  his  hiding-place  in  the  inn  to  pass  the  rest  of  that 
moist  and  wretched  night  in  a  hovel  in  the  woods."  Early 
next  day  tidings  reached  them  that  the  British  had  with 
drawn,  and  all  now  turned  their  steps  towards  the  city. 

When  Mrs.  Madison,  still  in  her  disguise,  with  only  one 
attendant,  arrived  at  Long  Bridge,  burned  at  both  ends, 
Colonel  Fenwick,  in  command  there,  and  "  busy  in  trans 
porting  munitions  of  war  over  the  Potomac  in  the  only 
boat  left  at  his  disposal,  peremptorily  refused  to  let  any 
unknown  woman  cross  in  the  boat  with  her  carriage."  She 


340  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

sent  for  him,  and,  on  making  herself  known  confidentially, 
she  "  was  driven  in  her  carriage  into  the  frail  boat,  which 
bore  her  homewards,"  and  she  stopped  at  her  sister's,  Mrs. 
Cutts's  house,  which  was  owned  and  occupied  many  years, 
and  to  the  time  of  his  death,  by  ex-President  John  Quincy 
Adams,  on  F  Street,  one  square  from  the  Treasury  Depart 
ment.  The  President  and  his  secretaries  returned  by  way 
of  Georgetown,  and  the  government  was  soon  again  set 
on  foot.  After  boarding  at  Mrs.  Cutts's  a  few  weeks,  the 
President  and  family  resumed  housekeeping  in  the  Ogle 
Tayloe  mansion,  still  standing  at  the  corner  of  Eighteenth 
Street  and  New  York  Avenue,  where  they  passed  the 
winter.  The  special  session  of  Congress,  called  for  the 
19th  of  September,  was  held  in  the  Patent  Office. 

The  enemy  did  not  stop  to  bury  their  dead,  and  they  left 
many  of  their  wounded  behind.  Philip  Frenau  thus  de 
scribes  their  arrival  and  exit : 

"  A  veteran  host  by  veterans  led, 
With  Ross  and  Cockburn  at  their  head, 
They  came — they  saw — they  burned — and  fled  I" 

A  part  of  their  fleet  pushed  up  the  river  to  Alexandria, 
August  28,  when  that  city  at  once  capitulated  on  humili 
ating  terms.  Captain  Gordon,  the  British  officer  in  com 
mand,  states  that  Fort  Washington  was  abandoned  and  the 
magazine  blown  up  by  the  United  States  garrison  without 
firing  a  gun,  leaving  the  way  clear  for  his  ships  to  reach 
Alexandria,  and  that  he  took  from  there  seventy-one  vessels 
loaded  with  flour,  tobacco,  cotton,  wine,  sugar,  and  other 
merchandise  of  value.  With  comparatively  little  damage, 
in  spite  of  all  that  could  be  done  to  oppose  them  by  shore 
batteries,  fire-ships,  and  sharp-shooters,  the  enemy  escaped 
with  their  booty.  Their  next  move  was  against  Baltimore, 
where,  at  the  battle  of  North  Point,  September  12,  Ad 
miral  Cockburn  officially  reported,  "  General  Ross,  in  the 
first  desultory  skirmish,  received  a  musket-ball  through  hio 


BURNING  OF  WASHINGTON  IN  1814.  341 

arm  into  his  breast,  which  proved  fatal  to  him  on  his  way 
to  the  water-side  for  re-embarkation."  Thus  fell  the  British 
general  who  led  the  attack  on  Washington,  and  who,  at  a 
dinner  there,  August  25,  gave  as  a  toast,  "  Peace  with 
America — war  with  Madison." 

As  will  have  been  observed,  I  have  introduced  several 
extracts  from  the  British  narrative  of  Mr.  George  R.  Gleig ; 
and  it  may  be  interesting  to  state  that  some  time  after  I  had 
prepared  this  sketch,  I  learned  incidentally  that  he  was  still 
alive,  and,  at  the  age  of  ninety-one  years,  the  Chaplain- 
General  of  the  British  army.  Thinking  he  might  favor  me 
with  some  reminiscences  of  the  British  invasion  and  occu 
pancy  of  Washington,  I  addressed  him  on  the  subject,  and 
have  received  two  letters  from  him  in  reply,  one  dated 
April  24  and  the  other  June  4,  1884. 

In  the  first  he  writes : 

"  You  ask  me  for  anecdotes  connected  with  the  battle  of  Bladensburg 
and  the  capture  of  Washington.  I  could  give  you  many  were  we  face 
to  face.  On  paper  I  must  confine  myself  to  such  as  are  least  likely  to 
overtax  your  patience. 

"  1.  Nothing  could  exceed  the  kindness  of  the  inhabitants  of  Bladens 
burg  to  our  wounded,  both  when  thrust  upon  them  and  after  we  had 
returned  to  our  ships.  In  the  same  room  with  Colonel  Thornton  lay 
your  gallant  Commodore  Barney,  both  grievously  hurt.  A  friendship 
was  at  once  struck  up  between  them,  which  lasted  through  their  lives. 
The  commodore  told  Thornton  the  following  story:  'I  commanded  a 
battery  of  artillery  and  saw  one  of  your  men  deliberately  pile  up  some 
stones,  then  lie  down  behind  them  and  take  aim.  "  Oh,"  said  I,  to  my 
self,  "  you  are  a  crack  shot,  I  suppose,  but  I'll  balk  you,"  which  I  did, 
for  I  pointed  one  of  our  guns  at  him  myself,  and  when  the  smoke  cleared 
away  his  parapet  was  in  ruins,  and  himself  nowhere.  I  hope  he  ran 
away.' 

"  2.  When  your  people  gave  way,  one  brave  fellow  tried  to  stop  them 
by  waving  the  flag  he  carried  and  taking  a  few  steps  to  the  front.  But  it 
is  not  easy  to  rally  raw  troops  as  yours  were,  and  only  a  few  men  answered 
to  his  call.  One  I  well  remember,  for  he  fired  thrice  at  me,  and  wore  a 
black  coat.  We  were  in  loose  skirmishing  order,  and,  being  very  anxious 
to  capture  the  color,  I  ran  directly  towards  the  bearer.  Before  I  could 
reach  him,  he  dropped  the  color,  evidently  having  received  a  wound,  and 


342  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

my  friend  with  the  black  coat  moved  off  also,  though  not  till  with  his 
third  shot  he  gave  me  a  scratch  in  the  thigh.  I  got  the  color,  which 
now  hangs  in  the  chapel  of  Chelsea  Hospital.  My  wound,  though  slight, 
made  me  stiff,  and  I  was  glad  to  enter  Washington  on  horseback. 

"  3.  Two  adventures  befell  me  there.  I  was  limping  past  a  house  in  a 
street  near  the  Capitol,  when  a  window  was  opened  and  a  negro  woman 
invited  me  to  enter.  The  family  had  quitted  the  town,  and  the  servants 
offered  me  all  manner  of  good  things.  I  was  amused,  and  told  them  I 
wanted  nothing  except  a  clean  shirt,  having  only  one  which  I  had  worn 
since  the  19th.  The  clean  shirt  was  immediately  produced,  which  I  put 
on,  leaving  mine  to  replace  it. 

"  4.  On  the  25th  a  hurricane  fell  on  the  city,  which  unroofed  houses 
and  upset  our  three-pounder  guns.  It  upset  me  also.  It  fairly  lifted  me 
out  of  the  saddle,  and  the  horse  which  I  had  been  riding  I  never  saw 
again.  This  is  surely  gossip  enough." 

In  my  letter  of  grateful  acknowledgment,  I  inquired  of 
Mr.  Gleig  respecting  the  conflicting  accounts  of  the  fatal 
explosion  at  the  arsenal  and  of  the  alleged  flag  of  truce. 
This  is  his  reply  : 

"  I  really  do  not  know  what  was  the  cause  of  the  explosion  to  which 
you  refer.  The  explosion  itself  I  perfectly  recollect ;  but,  not  being  near 
the  spot  where  it  occurred,  I  have  nothing  more  to  revert  to  respecting 
its  cause  than  the  rumors  of  the  camp.  Both  the  accounts  which  you 
give  to  me  were  circulated  among  us.  Which  is  the  correct  one,  if 
either,  I  cannot  tell.  I  have  no  doubt  you  are  right  as  regards  the  shots 
fired  after  General  Ross  and  Admiral  Cockburn  entered  Washington. 
It  was  dark  when  they  entered  the  town,  and  as  the  American  army  had, 
I  believe,  evacuated  the  place,  the  men  [who]  fired  on  the  general  would 
not  understand  either  the  nature  of  the  roll  of  the  drum,  which  demands 
a  parley,  or  a  white  flag,  if  it  were  shown.  With  respect  to  the  other 
point,  bearing  on  Ross's  instructions,  the  facts  are  these :  Twenty-three 
American  soldiers  engaged  in  the  invasion  of  Canada  were  recognized, 
when  taken  prisoners,  as  deserters  from  the  British  army.  They  were 
imprisoned  preparatory  to  trial ;  whereupon  General  Dearborn  immedi 
ately  imprisoned  as  many  British  prisoners,  and  warned  the  English 
authorities  that  life  would  go  for  life.  Forthwith  forty-six  more  Ameri 
cans,  officers  and  non-commissioned  officers,  were  put  in  arrest  as  guar 
antees  for  the  lives  of  the  British  prisoners.  On  neither  side  were  lives 
taken,  but  the  incident  embittered  the  feeling  of  hostility  which,  on  the 
American  side,  vented  itself  in  the  burning  of  some  Canadian  villages 
during  the  winter,  and,  on  the  side  of  England,  called  forth  the  stern 


THE  BLADENSBURG  RACES.  343 

order  to  destroy  American  towns  on  the  coast.  Ross's  despatch  was  not 
a  happy  one.  He  seems  to  have  been  hurried  by  indignation  into  sanc 
tioning  proceedings  which  met  with  no  approval  in  London ;  indeed,  so 
little  was  our  vandalism  approved  that  the  government  withheld  from 
him  the  honors  which  he  would  have  otherwise  received  after  a  brilliant 
though  short  campaign." 

The  enemy  succeeded  not  only  in  destroying  property 
valued  at  two  million  dollars,  but  by  unparalleled  barbarity 
in  inflicting  upon  their  country  a  stigma,  the  record  of 
which  there  is  not  an  Englishman  of  to-day  who  would 
not  rejoice  to  see  erased  from  the  pages  of  history.  Our 
own  countrymen,  too,  I  am  inclined  to  believe,  would  be 
willing  to  see  this  done,  provided  the  record  and  recollec 
tion  of  the  not  over-creditable  defence  of  the  capital  could 
also  at  the  same  time  be  forever  blotted  out. 


CHAPTER   XL 

THE  BLADENSBURG  RACES. 

EDITOR  OF  MAGAZINE  OF  AMERICAN  HISTORY  : 

I  wish  I  had  known  of  an  amusing  production,  which  has 
unexpectedly  come  into  my  hands,  touching  "  The  Bladens- 
burg  Races,"  since  your  contributor,  Colonel  Norton,  wrote 
me  asking  for  some  appropriate  accompaniment  to  the  bur 
lesque  British  engraving  of  the  "  Burning  of  Washington," 
in  your  December  issue.  This  is  a  ballad  of  sixty-eight 
stanzas,  somewhat  after  the  style  of  "John  Gilpin's  Ride." 
It  opens  in  this  wise  : 

"  James  Madison  a  soldier  was, 

Of  courage  and  renown, 

And  Generalissimo  was  he 

Of  famous  Washington. 

"  Quoth  Madison  unto  his  spouse, 

'  Though  frighted  we  have  been 
These  two  last  tedious  weeks,  yet  we 
No  enemy  have  seen. 


344  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

"  '  To-morrow  is  the  twenty-fourth, 

And  much  indeed  I  fear 
That  then,  or  on  the  following  day, 
That  Cockburn  will  be  here.' 

" '  To-morrow,  then/  quoth  she,  '  we'll  fly 

As  fast  as  we  can  pour 
Northward  unto  Montgomery, 
All  in  our  coach  and  four. 

"  '  My  sister  Cutts,  and  Cutts  and  I, 

And  Cutts's  children  three, 
Will  fill  the  coach ;  so  you  must  ride 
On  horseback  after  we/ 

"  He  soon  replied,  '  I  do  admire 

Of  humankind  but  one, 
And  you  are  she,  my  Dolly  dear ; 
Therefore  it  shall  be  done.'  " 

The  "  Generalissimo"  thereupon  prepares  for  the  trip — 
saying  his  "  trusty  steed  the  Griffin  bold"  would  "  safely 
bear  him  through" — that  he,  with  the  members  of  his  Cab 
inet,  "  would  start  as  though  for  Bladensburg,"  but  when 
they  had  cleared  the  town  they  would  put  "  for  Montgom 
ery,  and  o'ertake  the  coach  at  early  noon."  This  seemed 
greatly  to  please  "  Mistress  Dolly,"  on  whose  ruddy  cheek 
he  pressed  a  kiss. 

"  O'erjoyed  was  he  to  find, 
Though  bent  on  running  off,  she'd  still 
His  honor  in  her  mind." 

Fearing  the  "  mob  should  grumble  loud,"  the  coach  was 
not  allowed  to  start  from  the  White  House ;  but  "  six 
precious  souls,  and  all  agog,"  entered  it  "  at  brother 
Cutts's." 

"  Smack  went  the  whip,  'round  went  the  wheels ; 

Were  never  folks  so  glad  : 
The  dust  did  rise  beneath  the  coach, 
As  though  the  dust  were  mad." 


THE  BLADENSBURG  EACES.  345 

The  "  General"  mounted  to  follow,  when,  "  looking 
back,"  he  "  saw  his  Cabinet  behind." 

"  '  Monroe,  you're  late  P  quoth  Madison, 

'  Tis  late  indeed,  I  fear, 
For  us  to  steer  for  Bladensburg  ; 

The  British  are  so  near.'  " 
And  now,  as 

"  The  Cabinet  on  horseback  sat," 

they  "  reasoned  high,"  as  to  whether  they  should  set  out 
for  the  camp, 

"  Or  northward  straight  should  fly." 

Before  the  council  ended  "  Cuffee  screamed,  '  De  Shappo- 
hat  and  sword  '  "  of  the  General  "  '  be  leave  behind,'  "  when 
he  was  directed  to  bring  them  at  once.  This  caused  a  little 
delay,  but  the  "gallant  Four"  —  Madison,  Monroe,  Arm 
strong,  and  Rush  (the  "  Boatswain,"  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
was  detained)  —  soon  reached  the  "  country  road,"  when 
they  moved  on  rapidly,  not  a  little  accelerated  by  the 
"  loud  blast  of  a  bugle-horn,"  which  disturbed  "  our  hero," 
the  General,  "  it  scared  his  horse  so." 

"  Away  went  he,  and  after  him 

Our  heroes  rode  apace  ; 
They  little  dreamt,  when  they  set  out, 
Of  running  such  a  race." 

With  some  mishaps  and  much  trepidation,  they  at  length 
all  "  came  unto  the  spot  where  Winder's  forces  lay,"  when 
they  anxiously  inquired  : 

"  *  Where  are  the  British  ?  Winder,  where  ? 

And  Cockburn,  where  is  he?  — 
D'ye  think  your  men  will  fight,  or  run, 
When  they  the  British  see  ?'  " 


,  telling  Armstrong  and  Rush  to  "  stay  here  in 
camp,"  the  "  General,"  with  Monroe  as  his  "  aid,"  said  he 
would  return  —  adding:: 


346  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

"  '  And,  Winder,  do  not  fire  your  guns, 

Nor  let  your  trumpets  play, 
Till  we  are  out  of  sight — forsooth, 
My  horse  will  run  away.' " 

They  flew  toward  Montgomery,  the  "  General :" 

"  Then,  speaking  to  his  horse,  he  said, 

'  I  am  in  haste  to  dine :  • 
'Twas  for  your  pleasure  I  came  here ; 
You  shall  go  back  for  mine.' 

"  Now,  at  Montgomery,  his  wife 

Out  of  the  window  spied 
Her  gallant  husband,  wond'ring  much 
To  see  how  he  did  ride. 

" '  Stop,  stop  !  your  Highness,  here's  the  house  !' 

They  all  at  once  did  roar ; 
"  '  Here,  at  Montgom'ry,  you're  as  safe 

As  ten  miles  off,  or  more.' 

" '  Stop  him,  Monroe  !  here's  sister  Cutts, 

The  girls,  and  Cutts,  and  I ; 
The  dinner's  cold,  and  we  are  tir'd !' 
Monroe  says,  '  So  am  I.'  " 

But  the  distant  cannonade  so  frightened  the  steeds  that 
"  neither  horse  nor  James  a  whit  inclined  to  tarry  there," 
and,  with  Monroe,  the  "  General"  kept  on  until  they  finally 
brought  up  at  Frederick,  much  to  the  astonishment  of 
everybody  on  the  road — the  women  thinking  "  our  General 
rode  express :" 

"  And  so  he  did ;  for  he  first  bore 
The  news  to  Frederick- town  ; 
Nor  stopt  from  where  he  first  got  up, 
Till  he  again  got  down. 

"  Now,  long  live  Madison,  the  brave ! 

And  Armstrong,  long  live  he  ! 
And  Rush,  and  Cutts,  Monroe  and  Jones  ! 
And  Dolly,  long  live  she ! 


LETTER  FROM  MR.  GEORGE  R.  GLEIG.  347 

"  And  when,  their  country's  cause  at  stake, 

Our  General  and  Monroe 
Next  take  the  field,  to  lead  our  troops 
Against  th'  invading  foe ; 

"  But  fly  their  posts— ere  the  first  gun 

Has  echo'd  o'er  the  wave, 
Stop !  stop  !  Potomac  !  stop  thy  course ! 
Nor  pass  MOUNT  VERNON'S  GRAVE  I" 

The  whole  production  reveals  an  undercurrent  of  disre 
spect  and  bitterness — especially  towards  Madison — which 
leads  to  the  supposition  that  the  verses  were  written  very 
soon  after  the  battle.  They  were  printed  in  1816,  but  the 
author  of  them,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  is  unknown. 

WASHINGTON,  December  2,  1885. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

LETTER  FROM  MR.  GEORGE  R.  GLEIG,  CHAPLAIN-GENERAL  OF 
THE  BRITISH  ARMY,  CONCERNING  THE  BATTLE  OF  BLADENS- 
BURG,  IN  WHICH  MR.  GLEIG  WAS  A  PARTICIPANT — NOTE  OF 
ANSWER  TO  HIM. 

BYLANDS,  WINCHFIELD,  llth  Nov.,  1885. 
THE  HON.  HORATIO  KING  : 

MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you  for 
sending  me  a  copy  of  the  Magazine  of  American  History, 
which  contains  your  interesting  paper  on  the  "Battle  of 
Bladensburg  and  the  Capture  of  Washington."  You  de 
scribe  well  the  state  of  feeling  among  the  inhabitants  of  the 
city,  and  are  doubtless  more  correct  than  one  of  the  in 
vading  force  could  be  as  to  the  strength  of  the  defending 
troops  brought  into  the  field.  But  your  authorities  do  us 
some  injustice  when  they  speak  of  large  desertions  from 
our  ranks  and  acts  of  pillage  by  our  men.  We  did  not 


348  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

lose  a  single  man  by  desertion.  And  never,  perhaps,  was 
so  little  damage  done  to  the  persons  and  property  of  the 
peaceable  inhabitants  by  any  hostile  army  on  its  march  to 
or  from  the  capital.  You  know  what  my  opinions  are  of 
the  wanton  destruction  to  public  buildings  in  Washington 
itself.  They  were  those  of  the  home  Government  at  the 
time,  and  are  entertained  now  by  all  classes.  But  in  the 
details  related  by  you  there  are  many  ludicrous  mistakes. 
I  was  one  of  the  battalion  which  first  took  up  a  position  on 
the  high  ground  overlooking  the  capital,  and  I  can  vouch 
for  it  that  not  a  mortal  shot  was  fired  either  before  or  after 
the  conflagration  took  place.  Of  the  dinner  in  the  Presi 
dent's  House,  I  certainly  did  not  partake ;  but  I  was  told 
by  more  than  one  of  the  officers  who  professed  to  have 
been  present  at  it,  that  it  was  a  reality  and  not  a  myth. 
So,  likewise,  in  regard  to  our  numbers,  there  can  be  no 
mistake.  We  landed  four  battalions  of  the  line  and  one  of 
marines,  3600  bayonets,  which  the  sailors  who  dragged  our 
3-pounder  guns,  and  the  fifty  artillerymen  who  worked 
them,  raised  to  about  4000  in  all.  Writing  as  I  did  with 
out  reference  to  official  documents,  I  much  overrated  our 
loss  in  battle,  which,  including  several  deaths  by  sunstroke, 
amounted  to  a  little  over  300,  not  500.  So  difficult  is  it  to 
be  quite  exact  in  writing  history  when  historians  of  different 
nationalities  undertake  to  describe  events,  each  as  it  had 
represented  itself  to  his  own  idiosyncrasy. 

Born  in  1796, 1  shall  complete  my  ninetieth  year  on  the 
20th  of  April  next,  if  I  live  so  long. 

Let  me  add  that,  while  it  lasted,  the  musketry  fire  of 
your  people  at  Bladensburg  was  as  sharp  as  any  which  I 
ever  encountered  from  the  French. 

Once  more  thanking  you  for  giving  me  the  pleasure  of 
reading  your  account  of  our  operations,  in  which  I  took 
part  upwards  of  seventy  years  ago,  believe  me, 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

G.  R.  GLEIQ. 


LETTER  FKOM  MR.  GEORGE  R.  GLEIG.  349 

[!N"oTE. — Mr.  Charles  J.  Ingersoll,  author  of  an  "His 
torical  Sketch"  of  the  war,  is  the  authority  for  stating  that 
the  British  troops  fired  at  the  Capitol  before  entering  and 
taking  possession  of  it.  He  says,  "  Drawing  up  their 
column  on  the  east  of  the  building,  after  a  short  consider 
ation  whether  it  should  be  exploded  by  gunpowder  or  con 
sumed  by  fire,  the  latter  was  resolved  upon  by  the  enemy, 
as  was  believed,  lest  the  blowing  up  should  injure  adjacent 
dwellings.  The  troops  were  ordered  to  fire  a  volley  into 
the  windows,  after  which  the  commanders  let  their  fol 
lowers  into  the  interior."  This  statement  is  reiterated  by 
a  gentleman  from  Bladensburg,  vouched  for  as  reliable  by 
Mr.  Ingersoll,  and  "  confirmed  by  the  important  testimony 
of  a  highly  respectable  English  officer."  This  Bladensburg 
gentleman,  "  with  all  the  recollections  [Ingersoll  says]  of 
the  very  spot,"  gives  the  following  account  of  the  firing  on 
General  Ross.  He  says  that  after  Commodore  Barney  was 
wounded  and  captured,  "  his  sailors  and  marines,  retreating 
reluctantly,  were  burning  with  anxiety  to  have  another 
brush  with  the  enemy,  but  were  marched  off  by  the  officers, 
their  rear  being  closely  followed  by  the  British  troops  until 
they  entered  the  suburbs  of  Washington,  when  a  party  of 
the  sailors  entered  a  three-story  brick  dwelling-house  be 
longing  to  Robert  Sewell,  and  awaited  the  near  approach 
of  the  enemy's  column,  led  by  General  Ross  in  person, 
when  they  fired  a  volley  which  killed  or  disabled  the  horse 
upon  which  the  general  was  mounted.  The  sailors  then 
retreated  by  the  rear  of  the  building,  and  the  British  set 
fire  to  and  destroyed  the  house."  With  respect  to  the 
elaborate  dinner  said  to  have  been  set  out  for  the  President 
and  invited  guests  at  the  White  House,  Ingersoll  says, 
"  Mr.  John  Sousa,  Mr.  Madison's  porter,  a  respectable 
Frenchman,  who  still  (in  1849)  survives,  pronounces  all  this 
account  of  food  a  fable." 

The  private  houses  and  the  stores  pillaged,  according  to 
Ingersoll,  were  those  of  Messrs.  Spriggs,  Boon,  Burch, 


350  TUENING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

Long,  Rapine,  Watterson,  McCormick,  Caldwell,  Elliott, 
B.  and  C.  Burns,  Ricks,  Crampton,  and  General  Washing 
ton  ;  and  the  dwellings  burnt  were  those  of  Messrs.  Sewell, 
Ball,  Frost,  Phillips,  Tomlinson,  and  Mrs.  Hamilton,  in 
cluding  the  large  hotel  belonging  to  David  Carroll,  of  Dud- 
dington  &  Co.  In  his  official  report,  Admiral  Cockburn 
boastingly  said,  "  In  short,  sir,  I  do  not  believe  a  vestige  of 
public  property  or  store  of  any  kind  which  could  be  con 
verted  to  the  use  of  the  Government,  escaped  destruction." 

H.  K] 


CHAPTER    XIII 

THE  PENALTY  ENVELOPES  :    A  LITTLE   INSIDE  HISTORY  REGARD 
ING   THEIR    INTRODUCTION. 

IT  would  require  several  pages  to  present  a  detailed 
account  of  my  years  of  vexatious,  gratuitous  labor  in  ob 
taining  the  introduction  of  the  official  "penalty  envelope;" 
but  the  following  article  which  I  furnished  to  the  Boston 
Herald  of  July  12,  1894,  must  suffice  for  the  present  occa 
sion  : 

In  the  Herald  of  the  9th  inst.,  there  is  what  appears  to 
be  a  valuable  historical  account  of  United  States  postage- 
stamps,  but  it  doubtless  contains  some  errors,  one  of  which 
I  respectfully  ask  sufficient  space  to  point  out,  since  some 
thing  of  my  own  action  ten  years  and  over  after  I  left  the 
post-office  department  is  connected  with  it.  The  writer 
states : 

"  In  order  to  put  a  stop  to  abuses  of  the  franking  privilege,  official 
stamps  were  provided  in  1873  for  each  of  the  executive  departments  of 
the  government  for  use  on  official  matter  sent  through  the  mails.  They 
were  of  about  the  same  denominations  as  the  ordinary  stamps  for  the  use 
of  the  public.  After  a  few  years'  trial  they  were  gradually  abandoned, 
and  in  their  place  the  post-office  department  issued  official  penalty  enve 
lopes  for  official  business.  The  last  of  the  official  stamps,  which  turned 


THE  PENALTY  ENVELOPES.  351 

out  to  be  a  still  greater  source  of  abuse  than  the  old  franking  practice, 
came  to  pass  in  1879." 

The  first  act  authorizing  the  use  of  the  penalty  envelope 
bears  date  March  4, 1877,  when  it  went  into  effect  at  once. 
Its  use  would  have  been  universal  in  the  executive  depart 
ments  but  for  a  decision  of  the  Attorney-General  that,  Con 
gress  having  made  an  appropriation  for  departmental  post 
age-stamps  at  the  same  time,  it  was  its  intention  that  both 
the  penalty  envelopes  and  stamps  might  be  used.  It  was 
natural  for  the  third  assistant  postmaster-general,  the  finan 
cial  officer  of  the  department,  to  ask  an  appropriation  for 
the  stamps  then  in  use,  as  it  was  not  known  whether  the 
penalty  envelope  would  be  authorized  or  not;  but,  when  the 
question  arose,  Senator  Hamlin,  chairman  of  the  committee 
on  post-offices  and  post-roads,  who  had  requested  me  to 
submit  my  device  to  the  committee  (for  I  may  be  allowed, 
as  I  have  the  right  in  justice  to  myself,  to  say  it  was  my 
device),  wrote  to  me  from  his  home  in  Bangor,  saying : 
"  You  and  I  know  it  was  the  purpose  of  the  law  that  the 
penalty  envelope  should  take  the  place  of  the  departmental 
stamps."  However,  he  advised  that  I  should  seek  for 
remedy  by  an  amended  bill,  which  I  prepared,  with  various 
improvements,  taking  care  to  add  a  clause,  as  I  did  in  the 
first  bill,  repealing  the  stamp  act,  and  this  was  presented 
at  the  next  session  of  Congress.  When  it  came  finally  to 
pass,  on  March  4,  1879,  as  bad  luck  would  have  it,  it  was 
tacked  on  to  the  general  post-office  appropriation  bill,  as  the 
first  had  been,  leaving  out  the  repealing  clause.  Meantime 
the  third  assistant  continued  to  ask  for  the  stamp  appro 
priation,  in  defiance  of  the  purpose  and  desire  to  get  rid  of 
the  stamps,  which  the  adjutant-general  and  commissioner 
of  internal  revenue  both,  I  remember,  denounced  as  an 
intolerable  nuisance;  and  so  both  systems  were  kept  up, 
to  the  annoyance  of  all  the  departments,  except  the  post- 
office,  where  the  penalty  envelope  was  universally  used  from 
the  passage  of  the  first  act. 


352  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

To  make  a  long  story  short,  I  drew  a  third  bill  and  "  lob 
bied"  for  it,  pro  bono  publico,  both  through  the  press  and  in 
Congress,  until  at  length,  in  spite  of  the  persistent  opposi 
tion  of  the  third  assistant  postmaster-general,  who,  strange 
to  say,  was  allowed  to  have  his  own  way  in  the  matter,  the 
amended  act  became  a  law,  broader  in  its  scope  than  origi 
nally  intended,  and  forbidding  the  further  use  of  the  depart 
mental  stamps  on  July  5,  1884.  Thereupon  the  stamps  in 
enormous  quantities,  mostly  in  the  hands  of  the  contractors, 
were  ordered  to  be  destroyed. 

Now,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that,  had  the  first  penalty 
envelope  act  been  allowed,  as  it  was  intended,  entirely  to 
supplant  the  official  stamps,  the  government,  in  the  seven 
years  or  more  I  literally  fought  for  this  reform,  might  have 
saved  in  clerk  hire,  the  prevention  of  fraud,  etc.,  thousands 
upon  thousands  of  dollars. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

AN   HOUR   WITH   DANIEL   WEBSTER. 

EVERYTHING  relating  to  Daniel  Webster  is  of  interest, 
from  his  boyhood  to  the  close  of  his  life,  October  24,  1852, 
at  the  age  of  threescore  years  and  ten.  The  autobiography 
of  his  early  life  plainly  shows  "  the  stuff  he  was  made  of," 
exhibiting,  as  it  does,  the  essential  features  of  the  best  New 
England  character.  In  the  first  school  he  attended,  only 
reading  and  writing  were  taught,  and  as  to  these,  he  says, 
"  the  first  I  generally  could  perform  better  than  the  teacher, 
and  the  last  a  good  master  could  hardly  instruct  me  in ; 
writing  was  so  laborious,  irksome,  and  repulsive  an  occu 
pation  to  me  always.  My  masters  used  to  tell  me  that  they 
feared,  after  all,  my  fingers  were  destined  for  the  plough- 
tail." 


AN  HOUR  WITH  DANIEL  WEBSTER.  353 

In  May,  1796,  young  Webster  was  placed  in  Phillips 
Academy,  at  Exeter,  New  Hampshire,  where  his  instructors 
were  Mr.  Thacher,  afterward  judge  of  the  municipal  court 
of  Boston,  and  Mcholas  Emery,  subsequently  a  distin 
guished  counsellor  and  judge  of  the  supreme  court,  well 
known  to  the  writer,  at  Portland.  Says  Mr.  "Webster :  "I 
am  proud  to  call  them  both  masters.  I  believe  I  made  tol 
erable  progress  in  most  branches  which  I  attended  to,  while 
in  school ;  but  there  was  one  thing  I  could  not  do.  I  could 
not  make  a  declamation ;  I  could  not  speak  before  the 
school.  The  kind  and  excellent  Buckminster  [his  Latin 
teacher]  sought,  especially,  to  persuade  me  to  perform  the 
exercises  of  declamation,  like  other  boys,  but  I  could  not 
do  it.  Many  a  piece  did  I  commit  to  memory  and  recite, 
and  rehearse,  in  my  own  room,  over  and  over  again ;  yet 
when  the  day  came,  when  the  school  collected  to  hear 
declamations,  when  my  name  was  called,  and  I  saw  all  eyes 
turned  to  my  seat,  I  could  not  raise  myself  from  it.  Some 
times  the  instructors  frowned,  sometimes  they  smiled.  Mr. 
Buckminster  always  pressed  and  entreated,  most  winningly, 
that  I  would  venture ;  but  I  could  never  command  sufficient 
resolution.  When  the  occasion  was  over,  I  went  home  and 
wept  bitter  tears  of  mortification." 

His  instructors  well  knew  how  greatly  success  in  life 
often  depends  on  the  ability  to  give  free  utterance  to  one's 
sentiments,  without  embarrassment,  before  a  public  assem 
bly  ;  and  hence  their  urgency.  What  but  that  invaluable 
talent,  or  acquisition,  assures  the  preference  to  many  over 
their  associates,  who,  in  point  of  general  information,  are 
in  all  respects  their  equals  if  not  superiors,  but  whose 
speeches,  when  called  for,  lie  hidden,  as  it  were,  and  only 
come  to  the  mind  with  facility  and  triumphant  effect  when 
they  are  safe  from  observation, — oftener  than  otherwise,  in 
bed. 

In  1802,  at  twenty  years  of  age,  Mr.  Webster  went  to 
Fryeburg,  Maine,  "  to  keep  school,"  at  the  rate  of  three 

23 


354  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

hundred  and  fifty  dollars  per  annum.  This  (he  says)  was 
no  small  thing,  for  "  I  compared  it  not  with  what  might  be 
before  me,  but  what  was  actually  behind  me.  It  was  bet 
ter,  certainly,  than  following  the  plough."  At  an  earlier 
date,  he  says  :  "  I  was  fond  of  poetry.  By  far  the  greater 
part  of  Watts's  psalms  and  hymns  I  could  repeat  at  ten  or 
twelve  years  of  age.  I  am  sure  no  other  sacred  poetry  will 
ever  appear  to  me  so  affecting  and  devout."  About  the 
same  time,  when  his  father  brought  home  a  copy  of  Pope's 
"  Essay  on  Man,"  he  says,  "  I  took  it  and  very  soon  could 
repeat  it  from  beginning  to  end." 

Webster  was  not  only  fond  of  poetry,  as  evinced  by  his 
poetic  quotations  in  correspondence  and  speeches,  but  he 
sometimes  courted  the  muses,  his  poetical  inspirations  not 
infrequently  appearing  in  rhyme  as  well  as  in  his  prose  pro 
ductions.  One  of  his  earlier  poems  was  addressed  to  George 
Herbert,  supposed  to  be  one  of  his  college  companions,  on 
leaving  Dartmouth  College,  December  20,  1798.  He  de 
plores  their  separation  in  twenty -two  lines  of  heroic  meas 
ure,  and  closes  with  this  stanza  : 

"  Let  love  and  friendship  reign, 
Let  virtue  join  the  train 
And  all  their  sweets  retain, 

Till  Phoebus'  blaze  expire ; 
Till  God  who  rules  on  high 
Shall  rend  the  tottering  sky, 
All  nature  gasping  die 

And  earth  be  wrapped  in  fire." 

In  a  letter  from  Salisbury,  February,  1809,  to  an  asso 
ciate  whom  he  addressed  familiarly  as  "  Brother  Bingham," 
there  is  a  hint  that  a  Mr.  Clark,  another  friend,  had  heard 
that  he  "  was  just  about  to  (try  to)  be  married ;"  and  he  in 
troduces  these  original  lines,  presumably  to  describe  the 
maiden  in  the  case : 

"  Bright  Phoebus  long  all  rival  suns  outshone, 
And  rode  triumphant  on  his  splendid  throne ; 


AN  HOUR  WITH  DANIEL  WEBSTER.  355 

When  first  he  waked  the  blushes  of  the  morn, 

And  spread  his  beauties  o'er  the  flowery  lawn, 

The  yielding  stars  quick  hastened  from  the  sky, 

Nor  moon  dare  longer  with  his  glories  vie  ; 

He  reigned  supreme  and,  decked  in  roseate  light, 

Beamed  his  full  splendors  on  the  astonished  night. 

At  length  on  earth  behold  a  damsel  rise, 

Whose  growing  beauties  charmed  the  wondering  skies ! 

As  forth  she  walked  to  breathe  the  balmy  air, 

And  view  the  beauties  of  the  gay  parterre, 

Her  radiant  glories  drowned  the  blaze  of  day, 

And  through  all  nature  shot  a  brighter  ray. 

Old  Phoebus  saw — and  blushed — now  forced  to  own, 

That  with  superior  worth  the  damsel  shone. 

Graced  with  his  name,  he  bade  her  ever  shine, 

And  in  his  rival  owned  a  form  divine  1" 

It  was  about  this  time,  1801,  writing  to  "  Brother 
Harvey"  Bingham,  he  got  off  the  following  distich.  He 
says :  "  I  expect  to  meet  many  disappointments  in  the  pros 
ecution  of  the  law.  I  find  I  have  calculated  too  largely  on 
the  profession.  For  this  reason  I  have  engaged  a  new  aux 
iliary  to  support  me  under  mortification;  it  is  tobacco. 

"  Come  then,  tobacco,  new-found  friend, 
Come,  and  thy  suppliant  attend 

In  each  dull,  lonely  hour. 
Then,  while  the  coxcomb  pert  and  proud, 
The  politician  learned  and  loud, 

Keep  one  eternal  clack, 
I'll  tread  where  silent  nature  smiles, 
Where  solitude  my  woe  beguiles, 

And  chew  thee,  dear  tobac." 

He  now  addresses  his  friend  Fuller  again — this  time  "  all 
in  rhyme" — an  epistle  so  good  I  should  like  to  quote  it 

entire : 

"  Since,  friend  Habijah,  you  are  thus  distrest, 
Since  Love's  fierce  tortures  thus  inflame  your  breast, 
Since  .  .  .  's  charms  forever  haunt  your  dreams, 
And  her  fair  form  before  you  always  seems, 
A  little  poetry,  perhaps,  might  roll 
Love's  boiling  torrent  from  your  troubled  soul. 


356  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

I,  too,  with  Muses  straying  through  the  grove, 

May  soothe  my  pains,  though  not  the  pains  of  love. 

For  those  blessed  fields,  where  Love's  gay  Graces  reign, 

I  once  have  tried,  and  tried,  alas !  in  vain. 

No  longer  on  those  verdant  banks  I  tread, 

No  longer  wander  o'er  the  flowery  mead ; 

Those  fragrant  lawns  of  Love,  which  you  explore, 

I  once,  perhaps,  have  known,  but  know  no  more. 

"  Come,  then,  together  let  us  beat  the  field 
Where  Arts  and  Science  their  best  laurels  yield, 
Together  let  us  climb  the  ethereal  height, 
Where  Freedom's  flambeaux  shed  a  living  light ! 
To  sing  Columbia,  then,  shall  be  our  care, 
Her  arts,  her  arms,  her  heroes,  and  her  fair. 
Columbia  hail !  thy  glories  fire  my  song, 
Thy  worth  deserves,  to  thee  the  bays  belong  I 
See  Science  glow  within  thy  peaceful  realm, 
See  her  bright  blaze  old  ignorance  o'erwhelm  ! 
See  yon  proud  dome  now  register  her  name  ! 
See  Dartmouth  blazon  the  bright  rolls  of  fame ! 
Columbia's  arms,  too,  soon  shall  awe  the  world, 
And  kings  and  tyrants  from  their  thrones  be  hurled, 
Her  every  hero  shall  a  Eugene  prove, 
And  bow  to  no  one  but  the  thundering  Jove. 
Her  fair  now  rival  Argos'  nymphs  divine, 
Though  all  her  daughters  not  like  .  .  .  shine, 
For  when  she  gently  rolls  that  sparkling  eye, 
When  her  soft  bosom  heaves  the  tender  sigh, 
Not  Venus'  self  to  Paris  did  appear 
Half  so  divine,  so  lovely,  or  so  fair ! !" 

From  a  poem  of  ninety-two  lines  on  the  "  Course  of  Life," 
addressed  to  Mr.  John  Porter,  June  4,  1802,  the  following 
is  a  characteristic  quotation : 

"  'Tis  true,  let  Locke  deny  it  to  the  last, 
Man  has  three  beings,  Present,  Future,  Past. 
We  are,  we  were,  we  shall  be  ;  this  contains 
The  field  of  all  our  pleasures  and  our  pains. 
Enjoyment  makes  the  present  hour  its  own, 
And  hope  looks  forward  into  works  unknown : 
While  backward  turn'd  our  thoughts  incessant  stray 
And  'mid  the  fairy  forms  of  memory  play." 


AN  HOUR  WITH  DANIEL  WEBSTER.  357 

The  postscript  of  a  letter  of  April  30, 1805,  addressed  to 
his  brother  Ezekiel,  ends  thus : 

"  Fol  de  dol,  dol  de  dol  di  dol, 
I'll  never  make  money  my  idol ; 
For  away  our  dollars  will  fly  all. 
With  my  friend  and  my  pitcher 
I'm  twenty  times  richer 
Than  if  I  made  money  my  idol ;' 
Fol  de  dol,  dol  de  dol  di  dol I" 

There  are  many  of  Mr.  Webster's  poems  extant,  but  no 
one  more  remarkable,  perhaps,  than  the  lines  on  the  death 
of  his  son  Charles,  in  the  winter  of  1825,  after  a  short  ill 
ness,  at  the  age  of  three  years.  In  a  touching  notice  of 
his  death,  Mr.  E.  Buckminster  Lee  observes  that  he  was 
"  a  lovely  child  of  singular  attractiveness  of  mind  and 
character.  Shortly  after  his  death,  when  the  round  con 
tour  of  the  cheeks  had  a  little  fallen  away,  his  face  and 
head  were  like  a  perfect  miniature  cast  of  his  father.  No 
marble  bust  can  ever  present  a  more  perfect  likeness  of  his 
noble  father." 

LINES  ADDRESSED  BY   MR.  WEBSTER  TO  HIS  ANGEL  CHILD. 

"  My  son,  thou  wast  my  heart's  delight, 

Thy  morn  of  life  was  gay  and  cheery ; 
That  morn  has  rushed  to  sudden  night, 
Thy  father's  house  is  sad  and  dreary. 

"  I  held  thee  on  my  knee,  my  son ! 

And  kissed  thee  laughing,  kissed  thee  weeping, 
But,  oh  !  thy  little  day  is  done, 
Thou'rt  with  thy  angel  sister  sleeping. 

"  The  staff  on  which  my  years  should  lean 

Is  broken  ere  those  years  come  o'er  me ; 
My  funeral  rites  thou  shouldst  have  seen, 
But  thou  art  in  the  tomb  before  me. 

"  Thou  rear'st  to  me  no  filial  stone, 

No  parent's  grave  with  tears  beholdest ; 
Thou  art  my  ancestor,  my  son  ! 
And  stand'st  in  Heaven's  account  the  oldest. 


358  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

"  On  earth  thy  lot  was  soonest  cast, 

Thy  generation  after  mine, 
Thou  hast  thy  predecessor  past  ; 
Earlier  eternity  is  thine. 

"  I  should  have  set  before  thine  eyes 

The  road  to  heaven,  and  shown  it  clear ; 
But  thou,  untaught,  spring'st  to  the  skies, 
And  leav'st  thy  teacher  lingering  here. 

"  Sweet  seraph,  I  would  learn  of  thee, 

And  hasten  to  partake  thy  bliss ! 

And  oh !  to  thy  world  welcome  me, 

As  first  I  welcomed  thee  to  this. 

"  Dear  angel,  thou  art  safe  in  heaven ; 

No  prayers  for  thee  need  more  be  made ; 
Oh,  let  thy  prayers  for  those  be  given 
Who  oft  have  blest  thy  infant  head. 

"  My  father !  I  beheld  thee  born, 

And  led  thy  tottering  steps  with  care, 
Before  me  risen  to  heaven's  bright  morn, 
My  son  !  my  father  !  guide  me  there." 

Could  anything  be  more  touching?  This  tenderness  of 
feeling  and  dependence  on  an  overruling  power  are  manifest 
throughout  Webster's  life.  By  nature  he  was  devotional ; 
and  while  in  seasons  of  gayety  it  was  his  wont  "  to  lend 
himself  gracefully  and  with  infinite  humor  to  the  amuse 
ment  of  the  hour,"  there  was  never  any  attempt  to  conceal 
the  religious  bent  of  his  mind.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Congregational  Church  at  Salisbury,  which  mode  of  wor 
ship,  he  said,  he  believed,  "  on  the  whole,  to  be  preferable 
to  any  other,"  although,  as  he  declared,  he  had  "  great 
respect  for  some  other  forms  of  service;"  and  we  have  his 
creed  in  fourteen  brief  articles  of  faith  as  communicated 
by  him  in  a  letter  to  Eev.  Thomas  Worcester,  former  pastor 
of  that  church.  Of  these,  the  two  following  are  the  eighth 
and  the  last : 

"  I  believe  in  the  universal  providence  of  God,  and  leave  to  Epicurus, 
and  more  unreasonable  followers  in  modern  times,  the  inconsistency 


AN  HOUR  WITH  DANIEL  WEBSTER.  359 

in  believing  that  God  made  a  world  which  He  does  not  take  the  trouble 
of  governing. 

"  Finally,  I  believe  that  Christ  has  imposed  on  all  his  disciples  a  life 
of  active  benevolence ;  that  he  who  only  refrains  from  what  he  thinks 
to  be  sinful  has  performed  but  a  part,  and  a  small  part,  of  his  duty  ;  that 
he  is  bound  to  do  good  and  communicate,  to  love  his  neighbor,  to  give 
food  and  drink  to  his  enemy,  and  to  endeavor,  as  far  as  in  him  lies,  to 
promote  peace,  truth,  piety,  and  happiness  in  a  wicked  and  forlorn  world, 
believing  that  in  the  great  day  which  is  to  come,  there  will  be  no  other 
standard  of  merit,  no  other  criterion  of  character  than  that  which  is 
already  established,  '  By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them.'  " 

In  a  letter  to  his  nephew,  C.  B.  Haddock,  March  21, 
1828,  he  writes  : 

"  It  does  not  appear  to  me  unreasonable  to  believe  that  the  friendships 
of  this  life  are  perpetuated  in  heaven.  Flesh  and  blood,  indeed,  cannot 
inherit  the  kingdom  of  God  ;  but  I  know  not  why  that  which  constitutes 
a  pure  source  of  happiness  on  earth,  individual  affection  and  love,  may 
not  survive  the  tomb." 

Again,  in  his  discourse  on  the  life  and  character  of  his 
brother  counsellor  and  bosom  friend,  the  late  Jeremiah 
Mason,  delivered  about  1849,  he  observed  that  "  nothing 
of  character  is  really  permanent  but  virtue  and  personal 
worth.  They  remain.  Whatever  of  excellence  is  wrought 
into  the  soul  itself,  belongs  to  both  worlds.  Real  goodness 
does  not  attach  itself  merely  to  this  life,  it  points  to  another 
world.  Political  or  professional  fame  cannot  last  forever, 
but  a  conscience  void  of  offence  before  God  and  man  is  an 
inheritance  for  eternity.  Religion,  therefore,  is  a  necessity, 
an  indispensable  element  in  any  human  character.  There 
is  no  living  without  it." 

It  would  be  instructive  to  make  other  extracts  from  his 
orations  and  addresses,  which  found  their  way  into  my 
scrap-book  at  the  times  of  their  delivery,  but  limited  space 
forbids.  Often  we  see  that  this  man  did  not  hold  him 
self  above  recognizing  a  higher  power  whose  blessings  he 
humbly  craved  for  his  country  and  humanity.  Not  the 
least  interesting  features,  alike  of  his  private  letters  and  his 


360  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

speeches,  are  apt  poetical  quotations, — thus  proving  his  love 
of  poetry,  which  some  writers,  in  their  superior  wisdom, 
nowadays  presume  to  disparage, — and  these  are  not  infre 
quently  from  "  Paradise  Lost"  and  Pope's  "  Essay  on  Man," 
the  latter  of  which,  as  already  remarked,  and  much  of  the 
former  also,  it  might  seem,  he  committed  to  memory  in 
youth,  when,  as  he  states  in  his  autobiography,  "  We  had 
so  few  books  that  to  read  them  once  or  twice  was  nothing. 
We  thought  that  they  were  all  to  be  got  by  heart."  He 
was  accustomed,  also,  as  stated  to  the  writer  by  a  justice 
of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  to  keep  a  stock  of 
good  things,  as  well  in  prose  as  in  poetry,  constantly  in 
memory,  to  be  used  whenever  occasion  offered.  Some  of 
the  best  of  these,  as  is  well  known,  are  gems  from  his  own 
rich  mine. 

In  April,  1891,  an  article  of  mine  was  published  in  the 
Magazine  of  American  History,  in  which  I  mentioned  having 
long  had  in  my  possession  an  original  pamphlet  copy  of 
an  oration  which  I  supposed  the  only  one  of  the  kind  ex 
tant,  delivered  by  Mr.  Webster,  at  Concord,  New  Hamp 
shire,  on  July  4,  1806.  I  soon  received  a  letter  from  Mr. 
C.  W.  Lewis,  of  Boston,  informing  me  that  a  copy  of  the 
same  is  in  the  Boston  Athenseum,  and  he  sent  me  a  pam 
phlet,  copyrighted  by  him  in  1882,  containing  a  Fourth  of 
July  oration  by  Webster,  made  at  Fryeburg,  Maine,  in  1802. 
The  preface  to  this  pamphlet  states  that  this  oration  had  slept 
for  eighty  years,  when  it  found  its  way,  with  a  large  mass 
of  Webster's  private  papers,  to  an  old  junk-shop  in  Boston, 
and  "  was  there  secured  from  destruction  by  the  proprietor, 
whose  keen  eye  happened  to  catch  the  name  of  Webster  on 
one  of  the  papers."  Mr.  Lewis  also  called  attention  to  the 
fact  that  some  portions  of  both  orations  are  much  alike, 
and,  what  is  more  remarkable,  that  the  last  speech  made 
by  Mr.  Webster  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  July 
17,  1850,  concludes  with  almost  the  same  peroration  with 
which  he  closed  those  two  early  orations. 


AN  HOUR  WITH  DANIEL  WEBSTER.  361 

In  his  autobiography  Webster  observes :  "  Like  other 
young  men,  I  made  Fourth  of  July  orations, — at  Fryeburg, 
1802;  at  Salisbury,  1805;  at  Concord,  1806,  which  was 
published ;  and  at  Portsmouth,  1812,  published,  also."  It 
is  quite  evident  that  he  did  not  intend  the  one  of  1802,  and 
probably  that  of  1805,  either,  should  ever  see  the  light. 
The  following  extract  is  taken  from  the  oration  of  1802. 
After  extolling  in  glowing  terms  the  privileges  vouchsafed 
to  the  American  people  in  point  of  climate,  soil,  rivers, 
hills,  etc.,  with  a  Constitution  above  all  price,  he  exclaims : 

"  Amidst  these  profuse  blessings  of  nature  and  of  Providence,  beware  I 
Standing  in  this  place,  sacred  to  truth,  I  dare  not  undertake  to  assure  you 
that  your  liberties  and  your  happiness  may  not  be  lost.  Men  are  subject 
to  men's  misfortunes.  If  an  angel  should  be  winged  from  heaven,  on  an 
errand  of  mercy,  to  our  country,  the  first  accents  that  would  glow  on  his 
lips  would  be,  '  Beware  !  be  cautious !  you  have  everything  to  lose  ;  you 
have  nothing  to  gain.'  We  live  under  the  only  government  that  ever 
existed  which  was  framed  by  the  unrestrained  and  deliberate  consulta 
tions  of  the  people.  Miracles  do  not  cluster.  That  which  has  happened 
but  once  in  six  thousand  years  cannot  be  expected  to  happen  often.  Such 
a  government,  once  gone,  might  leave  a  void  to  be  filled,  for  ages,  with 
revolution  and  turmoil,  riot  and  despotism." 

In  the  oration  of  1806  the  same  expressions  appear,  and 
there  is  a  similarity  of  expression  all  the  way  through  it. 
He  says,  "  A  correct  and  energetic  tone  of  public  morals  is 
the  prop  on  which  free  constitutions  rest.  After  all  that 
can  be  said,  the  truth  is,  that  LIBERTY  consists  more  in 
the  morals  and  habits  of  the  people  than  in  anything  else. 
When  the  public  mind  becomes  thoroughly  vitiated  and 
depraved,  every  attempt  to  preserve  public  Liberty  must 
be  in  vain.  Laws  are  then  a  nullity,  and  constitutions 
waste  paper." 

The  closing;  sentences  of  the  oration  of  1802  are  as  fol- 

O 

lows :  "  A  true  patriot,  with  his  eye  and  his  heart  on  the 
honor  and  happiness  of  his  country,  hath  an  elevation  of 
soul  that  lifts  him  above  the  rank  of  ordinary  men.  To 
common  occurrences  he  is  indifferent.  Personal  considera- 


362  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

tions  dwindle  into  nothing,  in  comparison  with  his  high 
sense  of  public  duty.  In  all  the  vicissitudes  of  fortune  he 
leans  with  pleasure  on  the  protection  of  Providence  and  on 
the  dignity  and  composure  of  his  own  mind.  While  his 
country  enjoys  peace,  he  rejoices  and  is  thankful ;  and  if  it 
be  in  the  counsel  of  Heaven  to  send  the  storm  and  the 
tempest,  his  bosom  proudly  swells  against  the  rage  that 
assaults  it.  Above  fear,  above  danger,  he  feels  that  the  last 
end  which  can  happen  to  any  man  never  comes  too  soon  if  he  falls 
in  defence  of  the  laws  and  liberties  of  his  country" 

Mr.  Webster's  last  speech  in  the  Senate,  July  17,  1850, 
was  on  the  "  Compromise  Measures,"  and  its  peroration  is  in 
the  following  words  :  "  I  mean  to  stand  on  the  Constitution. 
I  need  no  other  platform.  I  shall  know  but  one  country. 
The  ends  I  aim  at  shall  be  my  country's,  my  God's,  and 
truth's.  I  was  born  an  American,  and  I  intend  to  perform 
the  duties  incumbent  upon  me  in  that  character  to  the  end 
of  my  career.  I  mean  to  do  this,  with  absolute  disregard 
of  personal  consequences.  What  are  personal  consequences  ? 
What  is  the  individual  man,  with  all  the  good  or  evil  which 
may  befall  a  great  country  in  a  crisis  like  this,  and  in  the 
midst  of  great  transactions  which  concern  that  country's 
fate  ?  Let  the  consequences  be  what  they  will,  I  am  care 
less.  No  man  can  suffer  too  much  and  no  man  can  fall  too 
soon,  if  he  suffer,  or  if  he  fall,  in  defence  of  the  liberties 
and  constitution  of  his  country."  There  is  no  need  of 
apology  for  these  quotations,  since  one  could  hardly  be 
better  employed  than  in  committing  to  memory  such  noble 
sentiments. 

I  think  I  never  heard  Mr.  Webster  speak  in  the  Senate 
more  than  two  or  three  times.  I  listened  to  his  oration  on 
the  occasion  of  laying  the  corner-stone  of  the  extension  of 
the  Capitol,  July  4,  1851,  and  his  form  and  features,  as  he 
then  appeared,  are  indelibly  impressed  on  my  memory,  as 
they  are,  likewise,  as  I  saw  him  at  the  President's  reception, 
when  Washington  Irving  and  "  Boz"  were  among  the  dis- 


AN  HOUR  WITH  DANIEL  WEBSTER.  363 

languished  guests.  The  crowd  was  so  great  that  it  was 
difficult  to  get  a  good  sight  of  either  Irving  or  Dickens. 
Webster  was  evidently  in  a  happy  mood, — he  may  have 
just  come  from  a  social  dinner, — for,  when  the  people  were 
passing  through  the  parlors,  he  took  position  close  against 
the  wall  by  the  door  of  the  East  Room,  and,  with  a  roguish 
look,  straightened  himself  back  at  full  length,  as  if  to  have 
his  height  measured.  I  thought  he  was  one  of  the  noblest 
looking  men  I  had  ever  seen,  and  he  was  certainly  not  less 
remarkable  physically  than  mentally.  He  speaks  of  his 
father,  who  died  in  1806,  as  "  the  handsomest  man  he  ever 
saw,  except  his  brother  Ezekiel,  who  appeared  to  him  the 
finest  human  form  he  ever  laid  eyes  on." 

There  is  a  little  historical  story  connected  with  "Webster 
as  Secretary  of  State  under  President  Fillmore,  about  1850 
or  1851.  Postmaster-General  Nathan  K.  Hall  one  day  took 
me  with  him  to  meet  an  engagement  he  had  made  at  the 
White  House.  The  business  in  hand  related  to  the  foreign 
mail  service,  of  which  I  had  charge  at  the  time,  and  I  was 
to  make  a  statement  with  a  view  to  obtaining  the  consent 
of  the  President,  as  required  by  law,  to  a  retaliatory  order 
that  the  Postmaster-General  desired  to  make  to  counteract 
the  practice  of  the  British  Government  in  charging  the 
same  postage  on  letters  between  the  two  countries — the 
single  rate  was  then  twenty-four  cents — whether  the  sea 
conveyance  was  by  the  United  States  or  British  steamers. 
As  soon  as  the  facts  of  the  case  had  been  presented  by  the 
Postmaster-General,  together  with  such  explanations  as  were 
required  from  me,  Mr.  Webster  raised  himself  up,  and,  with 
a  jovial  manner,  said,  in  his  deep  tone  of  voice,  "  Mr.  Pres 
ident, — as  we  boys  used  to  say  in  our  debating  society, — '  / 
motion'  that  you  give  your  consent  to  the  proposed  measure 
of  retaliation."  Whereupon  the  order  was  at  once  made, 
receiving  the  President's  approval,  and  it  soon  put  a  stop  to 
the  unjust  practice,  by  enabling  Brother  Jonathan  to  give 
John  Bull  "tit  for  tat." 


364  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

"  Mr.  Webster,"  observes  one  whose  relations  with  him 
were  intimate,  "  was  never  seen  to  more  advantage  than 
within  his  own  household,  at  the  family  board,  or  in  stroll 
ing  with  him  over  his  farm  at  Marshfield,  or  standing  with 
him  upon  the  sea  beach  and  looking  out  upon  the  ocean 
before  us,  which,  like  the  scope  of  his  intellectual  vision, 
appeared  boundless.  To  hear  him  converse  upon  the  past, 
the  present,  the  future,  in  a  familar,  colloquial  manner — to 
listen  to  his  great  thoughts,  expressed  in  purest  words  of  our 
language,  and  wonder  how  he  could  thus  speak  and  think, 
are  joys  which  we  can  find  no  words  to  express." 

Mr.  Webster's  kindness  of  heart  was  proverbial.  A 
touching  instance  of  this  is  shown  by  his  letter  of  October 
17,  1852,  to  President  Fillmore — the  last  but  one  he  wrote 
to  him — asking  that  Mr.  Conrad,  Secretary  of  War,  who 
had  given  attention  to  Mr.  Webster's  department  in  his 
absence,  be  allowed  to  sign  a  treaty,  saying  he  "  should  be 
glad  to  show  him  some  mark  of  grateful  respect,"  and  that 
"  it  is  a  feather  in  the  life  of  a  public  man  to  sign  a  treaty." 
His  letter  to  President  Fillmore,  on  the  morning  of  the  fol 
lowing  day,  was  the  last  letter  he  wrote  with  his  own  hand. 
He  had  not  then  given  up  all  hope  of  recovery ;  but  after  a 
comparatively  comfortable  night,  he  wrote  :  "  At  this  hour 
(ten  o'clock)  I  feel  easy  and  strong,  and  as  if  I  could  go  into 
the  Senate  and  make  a  speech !"  Yet  he  sadly  adds  :  "  At 
one  I  shall  sink  all  away,  be  obliged  to  go  to  bed  at  three, 
and  go  through  the  evening  spasms.  What  all  this  is  to 
come  to,  God  only  knows.  My  Dear  Sir — I  should  love  to 
pass  the  last  moments  of  your  administration  with  you,  and 
around  your  council  board.  But  let  not  this  embarrass 
you.  Consider  my  resignation  as  always  before  you,  to  be 
accepted  any  moment  you  please." 

But  the  end  was  fast  approaching;  and  when,  late  on  the 
afternoon  before  his  death,  this  announcement  was  made  to 
him  by  his  physician,  Mr.  Webster  "received  the  announce 
ment  calmly,  and  directed  all  the  members  of  his  family  to 


AN  HOUR  WITH  DANIEL  WEBSTER.  365 

be  called  in,  the  female  members  first,  and  then  his  male 
relatives  and  personal  friends,  addressing  each  of  them  in 
dividually,  and  bade  each  an  affectionate  farewell."  Be 
tween  ten  and  eleven  o'clock  at  night  he  uttered,  some 
what  indistinctly,  the  words,  "  Poet,  poetry,  Gray,  Gray," 
whereupon  Mr.  Fletcher  Webster  repeated  the  first  line  of 
Gray's  "  Elegy," — "  The  curfew  tolls  the  knell  of  parting 
day."  "That's  it,  that's  it,"  said  Mr.  Webster;  and  the 
book  was  brought  and  several  stanzas  read  to  him,  which 
seemed  to  give  him  pleasure  ;  thus,  to  the  last,  showing  his 
love  of  poetry.  Having  no  fear  of  dissolution,  he  spoke 
of  the  difficulty  of  the  process  of  dying,  when  Dr.  Jeffries 
repeated  the  verse :  "  Though  I  walk  through  the  valley  of 
the  shadow  of  death,  I  will  fear  no  evil,  for  Thou  art  with 
me :  Thy  rod  and  Thy  staff,  they  comfort  me." 

Mr.  Webster  said  immediately :  "  The  fact,  the  fact.  That 
is  what  I  want,  Thy  rod,  Thy  rod,  Thy  staff,  Thy  staff." 
Shortly  after,  at  twenty-two  minutes  before  three  o'clock, 
he  passed  tranquilly,  and  with  perfect  trust,  to  the  regions 
of  the  blest.  In  Edward  Everett's  speech  of  October  27, 
describing  this  closing  scene,  he  said :  "  In  the  long  and 
honored  career  of  our  lamented  friend,  there  are  efforts 
and  triumphs  which  will  hereafter  fill  one  of  the  brightest 
pages  of  our  history.  But  I  greatly  err  if  the  closing  scene 
— the  height  of  the  religious  sublime — does  not  far  tran 
scend  in  interest  the  brightest  exploits  of  his  public  life." 

Who  will  doubt  that,  after  a  life  devoted  to  the  defence 
of  "  the  Constitution,  the  laws,  and  the  liberties  of  his 
country,"  this  grand  old  patriot  and  statesman,  "  above  fear, 
above  danger,  above  reproach,"  reached  his  "  last  end,"  not, 
as  in  the  providence  of  God,  "  too  soon,"  but  ripe  for  the 
transition,  and  that  upon  his  entry  into  eternal  life  he  was, 
as  he  had  prayed  to  be,  welcomed  by  his  angel  son,  who 
"  stand'st  in  Heaven's  account  the  oldest"  ? 


366  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

CHAPTEE   XV. 

SIR   ROWLAND    HILL. 

A  Pleasant  Announcement — Origin  of  Penny  Postage — Handsome  Re 
ward — Postage-Stamps — Their  Origin — A  Personal  Interview. 

THE  following  item  is  going  the  rounds  of  the  news 
papers  :  "  Sir  Rowland  Hill,  the  veteran  ex-Postmaster- 
General  of  England,  and  Lady  Hill,  celebrated  their  golden 
wedding  a  short  time  since." 

This  is  a  pleasant  announcement;  and  it  may  be  interest 
ing  to  the  generality  of  readers  to  know  something  more 
of  the  life  and  character  of  this  philanthropist.  Sir  Row 
land  Hill  (he  must  not  be  confounded  with  Rev.  Rowland 
Hill,  born  1774,  died  1833)  has  never  been  the  actual  Post 
master-General  of  Great  Britain ;  but  as  first  secretary  of 
the  British  Post-Office  Department  for  several  years,  and 
as  post-office  reformer  previously,  he  undoubtedly  exercised 
a  greater  influence  in  postal  matters  than  any  Postmaster- 
General  of  that  kingdom  ever  did.  Born  at  Kidderminster, 
December  3,  1795,  "  he  early  showed  a  great  fondness  for 
figures,  which  was  subsequently  developed  in  the  study  of 
mathematics.  His  first  occupation  was  that  of  mathemati 
cal  tutor  in  a  school  kept  by  his  father,  and  for  a  number 
of  years  he  devoted  himself  to  improving  school  instruction 
and  organization."  As  secretary,  in  1833,  of  the  South 
Australian  Commission,  he  aided  in  founding  that  colony. 
Four  years  afterward  he  began  to  press  for  postal  reform, 
and  in  1838  succeeded  "  in  having  the  matter  referred  to  a 
special  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons."  This  com 
mittee,  after  due  consideration  of  the  subject,  reported  in 
favor  of  Mr.  Hill's  plan  of  penny  postage,  notwithstanding 
the  post-office  authorities,  who  were  given  a  full  hearing 
before  them,  were  "  hostile  to  the  change."  "  In  July, 


SIR  ROWLAND  HILL.  367 

1839,  a  bill  to  enable  the  treasury  to  carry  Mr.  Hill's  plan 
into  effect,  introduced  by  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer, 
passed  by  a  majority  of  102;  and  on  August  17  the  project 
became  a  law.  A  temporary  office  under  the  treasury  was 
at  the  same  time  created  to  enable  Mr.  Hill  to  inaugurate 
his  plan,  and  on  January  10,  1840,  the  uniform  penny  rate 
came  into  operation."  Notwithstanding  it  gave  good  prom 
ise  of  success,  the  post-office  authorities  continued  un 
friendly  ;  he  was  left  without  adequate  support,  and  "  soon 
after  the  accession  of  the  Peel  ministry,"  about  1843,  he 
was  dismissed,  arid  received  the  appointment  of  one  of  the 
directors  of  the  Brighton  Railway.  The  people,  however, 
were  on  his  side,  and  £13,000  was  raised  by  subscription 
for  a  testimonial  to  him.  If  I  am  not  mistaken  this  was 
used  in  the  erection  of  his  statue  at  Birmingham.  At  any 
rate,  I  am  quite  sure  that  my  old  friend,  Elihu  Burritt,  told 
me  there  was,  or  was  to  be,  such  a  monument  erected  there 
in  honor  of  Sir  Rowland.  "  Upon  the  return  of  the  Whigs 
to  power  in  1846,  he  was  appointed  secretary  to  the  Post 
master-General,  holding  divided  authority  with  Colonel 
Maberly,"  and  in  1854  he  became  sole  secretary,  which 
office  he  held  until  he  was  retired  several  years  afterward. 
"In  1860  he  was  knighted  in  acknowledgment  of  his  ser 
vices  at  the  post-office,  and  received  a  Parliamentary  grant 
of  £20,000,  the  first  Albert  gold  medal  of  the  Society  of 
Arts,  and  the  degree  of  D.C.L.  from  Oxford." 

The  above  facts,  long  familiar  to  experienced  post-office 
men,  I  have  taken  from  the  American  Cyclopaedia.  Here  is 
a  newspaper  account  of  the  origin  of  postage-stamps : 

"  The  origin  of  the  stamp  has  a  tinge  of  romance  in  it.  It  was  thirty- 
seven  years  ago  that  Rowland  Hill,  while  crossing  a  district  in  the  north 
of  England,  arrived  at  the  door  of  an  inn  where  a  postman  had  stopped 
to  deliver  a  letter.  A  young  girl  came  out  to  receive  it ;  she  turned  it 
over  and  over  in  her  hand  and  asked  the  price  of  postage.  This  was  a 
large  sum,  and  evidently  the  girl  was  poor,  for  the  postman  demanded  a 
shilling.  She  sighed  sadly,  and  said  the  letter  was  from  her  brother,  but 
that  she  had  no  money ;  and  so  she  returned  the  letter  to  the  postman. 


368  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

Touched  with  pity,  Mr.  Hill  paid  the  postage  and  gave  the  letter  to  the 
girl,  who  seemed  very  much  embarrassed.  Scarcely  had  the  postman 
turned  his  back,  when  the  young  innkeeper's  daughter  confessed  that  it 
was  a  trick  between  her  and  her  brother.  Some  signs  on  the  envelope 
told  her  all  she  wanted  to  know,  but  the  letter  contained  no  writing. 
'  We  are  both  so  poor/  she  added,  '  that  we  invented  this  mode  of  cor 
respondence  without  paying  for  our  letters.'  The  traveller,  continuing 
his  road,  asked  himself  if  a  system  giving  place  to  such  frauds  was  not  a 
vicious  one.  Before  sunset  Rowland  had  planned  to  organize  the  postal 
service  on  a  new  basis — with  what  success  is  known  to  the  world."  * 

I  have  no  reason  to  question  the  correctness  of  this 
account. 

In  1867,  being  in  London  with  my  youngest  son,  Henry 
Franklin,  we  called  at  the  General  Post-Office  on  the  brother 
of  Sir  Rowland,  Frederick  Hill,  Esq.,  who  then,  as  at  pres 
ent,  held  the  office  of  secretary.  Having  expressed  a  desire 
to  see  Sir  Rowland,  with  whom  I  had  formerly  had  exten 
sive  official  correspondence,  soon  after  reaching  our  board 
ing-house  I  received  a  note,  dated  June  15,  from  Mr.  Fred 
erick  Hill,  in  which  he  said :  "  I  saw  my  brother,  Mr. 
Rowland  Hill,  this  morning,  and  was  glad  to  find  that  he 
was  at  present  tolerably  well.  I  mentioned  your  being  just 
now  in  London,  your  having  called  here,  and  your  desire 
to  see  him ;  and  he  said  he  should  be  happy  to  see  both 
yourself  and  your  son  any  morning  you  may  be  at  liberty 
to  ride  over  to  Hampstead.  He  lives  at  Bertram  House, 
half  a  mile  on  the  London  side  of  Hampstead." 

Thus  invited,  on  the  17th  we  presented  ourselves  at  Ber 
tram  House,  and  sent  in  our  cards.  We  were  first  con 
ducted  into  the  parlor,  where  Sir  Rowland  soon  made  his 
appearance,  giving  us  a  cordial  welcome,  and  then  asked 

1  In  a  letter  to  me,  dated  London,  December  22,  1877,  Sir  Rowland 
wrote :  "  The  story  you  have  quoted  belongs  to  Coleridge.  I  only  quoted 
it  as  an  argument  in  favor  of  prepayment.  As  regards  the  statue  at 
Birmingham,  this  was  paid  for  by  a  subscription  raised  by  the  townsfolk 
themselves  for  the  purpose,  and  no  part  of  the  national  testimonial  was 
used  to  defray  expenses." 


.      SIR  ROWLAND  HILL.  369 

us  to  accompany  him  to  his  library  up-stairs.  From  our 
recollection  of  him  we  should  judge  that  he  was  a  man  just 
about  the  height  and  size  of  President  Hayes;  and  this  is 
perhaps  the  most  satisfactory  description  of  his  person  I 
could  give.  He  had  not  the  look  of  an  old  man,  but  stood 
erect  and  was  active  in  all  his  movements.  He  appeared 
to  be  in  perfect  health ;  but  said  if  he  undertook  to  walk 
any  considerable  distance — for  instance,  to  the  further  end 
of  his  spacious  garden,  to  which  he  pointed  from  the  library 
window — he  was  troubled  with  vertigo.  He  treated  us  like 
old  acquaintances,  showing  us  many  of  the  tokens  of  ap 
probation  he  had  received  from  various  distinguished  per 
sons,  including  his  commission  of  knighthood  from  the 
Queen.  As  a  choice  memento  of  our  visit  I  have  now 
before  me  a  proof-sheet  which  he  presented  me  of  one  of 
the  first  letter  envelopes  ever  made.  Upon  the  upper  face, 
side,  and  ends  are  various  devices,  one  of  which  represents 
a  person  writing,  surrounded  by  a  crowd  eagerly  looking 
on,  with  elephants  in  the  background, — evidently  an  East 
ern  scene ;  on  the  opposite  corner  is  a  commercial  picture, 
in  which  the  civilized  and  savage  world  are  brought  to 
gether,  of  course  through  the  means  of  cheap  postage  and 
other  facilities  for  easy  communication ;  below  these,  on 
either  end,  are  female  figures  in  the  attitude  of  reading 
letters  to  listening  children ;  and  at  the  top,  in  the  centre, 
is  a  kind  of  coat-of-arms,  representing,  also  by  a  female 
figure,  the  spirit  of  universal  communication  despatching 
flying  angels  with  messages  in  all  directions. 

After  an  hour's  most  agreeable  interview,  during  which 
we  were  treated  to  cake  and  wine,  Sir  Rowland  came  down 
stairs  with  and  presented  us  to  Lady  Hill,  who  greeted  us 
in  the  pleasantest  manner,  and  on  the  following  day  sent  us, 
"  With  Lady  Hill's  compliments,"  tickets  to  the  Zoological 
Gardens. 


24 


370  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

INCIDENTS   IN   SIR  WALTER   KALEIGH?S   LIFE. 

He  burns  Materials  he  had  prepared  for  his  History  of  the  World — His 

Confession,  etc. 

IN  the  third  volume  of  his  "  Addresses  and  Speeches," 
Robert  C.  Winthrop  has  given  us  a  valuable  contribution  to 
.history  that  must  be  regarded  as  conclusive  evidence  that 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh  made  quite  a  long  speech  on  the  scaf 
fold  immediately  before  his  execution.  This  speech — that 
has  usually  been  called  his  "  Confession" — has  been  dis 
credited  by  some  historians,  but  Mr.  Winthrop  found  in 
the  "  Common  Place  Book  of  Adam  Winthrop,  the  father 
of  the  first  Governor  of  Massachusetts,"  among  several 
accounts  of  historical  events,  carefully  copied  from  seem 
ingly  authentic  sources,  "  The  Confession  and  Execution  of 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh."  This  copy,  with  unimportant  varia 
tions  only,  agrees  with  the  general  version  of  the  "  Con 
fession."  Says  Mr.  Winthrop,  "  Sir  Walter  was  executed 
in  October,  1618,  when  Adam  Winthrop  was  living  at 
Groton,  England,  at  seventy  years  of  age,  a  magistrate  of 
the  old  county  of  Suffolk,  who,  a  few  years  before,  had  re 
signed  the  auditorship  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  which 
he  had  held  sixteen  or  seventeen  years.  His  son,  who, 
twelve  years  afterwards,  came  over  to  New  England  as 
Governor  of  Massachusetts,  was  then  about  thirty  years  old. 
Both  of  these  men  took  an  intellgent  interest  in  public 
affairs,  and  might  have  personally  witnessed  the  execution 
of  Raleigh,  had  they  chanced  to  be  in  London  at  the  time." 
Mr.  Winthrop,  after  considering  it  very  fully,  observes,  "  In 
conclusion,  we  can  hardly  doubt  that  this  speech  was  made 
substantially  as  it  has  been  reported." 

Another  incident  in   Sir  Walter's  life,  hardly  less  im- 


INCIDENTS  IN  SIB  WALTER  RALEIGH'S   LIFE.      371 

portant,  and  about  which  much  more  serious  doubt  has 
been  thrown,  is  the  statement  that  he  destroyed  material 
he  had  collected  for  a  continuation  of  his  "  History  of  the 
"World."  This  appears  in  a  book  entitled  "  Celebrated 
Trials,  Selected  by  a  Member  of  the  Philadelphia  Bar" 
(John  Jay  Smith,  born  1798),  and  published  by  L.  A. 
Godey,  in  1836.  In  this  book  it  is  stated  that  Sir  Walter, 
"  some  few  days  before  he  suffered,  sent  for  Mr.  Walter 
Burr,  who  formerly  printed  his  first  volume  of  the  '  History 
of  the  World/  whom,  taking  by  the  hand,  after  some  other 
discourse,  he  asked  how  it  had  sold  ?  Mr.  Burr  returned 
this  answer :  '  It  has  sold  so  slowly  that  it  has  undone  me.' 
At  these  words  Sir  Walter,  stepping  to  his  desk,  took 
the  other,  unprinted  part  of  his  history,  which  he  had 
brought  down  to  the  times  he  lived  in,  and,  clapping  his 
hand  upon  his  breast,  said,  with  a  sigh,  •'  Ah !  my  friend, 
hath  the  first  part  undone  thee  ?  the  second  part  shall  undo 
no  more:  this  ungrateful  world  is  unworthy  of  it!'  and 
immediately  going  to  the  fireside,  threw  it  in,  and  set  his 
foot  upon  it  till  it  was  consumed.  As  great  a  loss  to  learn 
ing  as  Christendom  could  have  sustained ;  the  greater 
because  it  could  be  repaired  by  no  hand  but  his." 

Edward  Edwards,  author  of  a  "  Life  of  Sir  Walter  Ealeigh," 
published  in  1868,  said  to  be  the  best  ever  written  of  him, 
attributes  this  story  of  the  bookseller  to  one  Winstanley, 
who,  it  would  appear  from  the  context,  was,  says  Edwards, 
"  the  author  of  a  very  worthless  book,  published  in  1660," 
forty-two  years  only  after  Sir  Walter's  execution,  when, 
if  not  true,  its  falsity  must  have  been  known  to  thousands 
of  his  contemporaries  then  living.  Was  it  denied  at  the 
time  ?  Edwards  says,  "  It  has  neither  authority  nor  cor- 
roboration,"  and,  thereupon,  enters  into  what  seems  to  me 
a  weak  argument  to  convince  his  readers  that,  "  at  any 
period,  the  destruction,  irrevocably,  of  the  result  of  long 
toil  on  the  faith  of  a  statement  like  that  given  in  the  story 
of  Walter  Burr,  smacks  rather  of  fable  than  of  history. 


372  TUENING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

Strictly  true  [he  continues]  Winstanley's  statement  cannot 
be,  since  a  second  edition  of  the  '  History  of  the  World' 
had  actually  appeared  before  the  date  assigned,  with  so 
much  precision,  to  this  conversation  in  the  Tower  between 
the  author  and  bookseller."  What,  I  venture  to  ask,  does 
this  prove  ?  Mind,  it  was  not  a  "  second  volume"  which  "  had 
actually  appeared,"  but  a  "  second  edition  of  the  first  and 
only  volume  ever  issued, — the  large  octavo  volume  of  1614, 
a  copy  of  which  I  have  examined  in  the  Congressional  Li 
brary.  Who  knows  that  the  bookseller's  misfortune  did 
not  arise  from  undertaking  a  second  edition,  after  the  first, 
probably  a  small  one,  had  been  disposed  of?  Look  at  these 
additional  facts.  This  old  volume,  as  already  remarked, 
bears  date  1614,  two  years  before  Sir  Walter  was  released 
from  the  Tower  to  take  charge  of  his  last  and  fatal  Guiana 
expedition.  It  comprises  the  whole  of  his  "  History  of  the 
World."  It  is  divided  into  five  books,  the  fifth  bearing  this 
heading:  "From  the  settled  rule  of  Alexander's  Successors 
in  the  East  untill  the  Romans  (prevailing  over  all)  made 
conquest  of  Asia  and  Macedon."  Of  course,  this  fifth  and 
last  book  is  plainly  not  "  brought  down  to  the  times  he 
lived  in."  Now  mark :  In  the  closing  paragraph  of  his 
history  he  wrote,  "  Lastly,  whereas  this  Booke,  by  the  title 
it  hath,  calls  itselfe  '  The  first  part  of  the  Generall  Historie 
of  the  World,'  implying  a  Second  and  Third  Volume, 
which  I  also  intended  and  have  hewne  out ;  besides  many 
other  discouragements  pers wading  my  silence,  it  hath 
pleased  God  to  take  that  glorious  Prince  out  of  the  world, 
to  whom  they  were  directed ;  whose  unspeakable  and  never 
enough  lamented  losse  hath  taught  me  to  say  with  Job, 
4  Versa,  est  in  Luctum  Cithara  mea  $  organum  meum  in  vocem 
flentium:  " * 

What  has  become  of  the  materials  for  these  second  and 
third  volumes,  thus  "hewne  out?"     Evidently,  whatever 

1  Chapter  xxx.  31. 


INCIDENTS  IN  SIR  WALTER  RALEIGH'S  LIFE.      373 

the  bookseller  might  reasonably  have  supposed  was  a  com 
plete  "  second  part"  was,  in  fact,  only  what  had  been 
"  hewne  out"  for  such  volume ;  and,  now  that  Sir  Walter 
knew  he  was  about  to  suffer  death,  what  more  natural,  in 
dependently  of  any  irritation  from  seeing  his  great  work 
was  ill  appreciated,  than  that  he  should  wish  to  destroy  his 
undigested  notes,  in  order  to  prevent  their  possible  use  in 
a  manner  to  detract  from  his  well-earned  "  fame  to  come, 
which  [Edwards  declares]  he  loved  with  a  passion  hardly 
second  in  intensity  to  the  love  of  wife  and  children."  More 
over,  we  have  seen  that  his  "  Confession,"  as  related,  pre 
sumably,  by  the  same  writer  who  gives  us  the  story  of  the 
bookseller,  agrees  in  all  essential  particulars  with  the  best 
authenticated  version  thereof.  Why,  then,  should  that 
story,  which  Edwards  says  had  been  current  "  now  for 
more  than  two  centuries,"  be  discarded  as  fabulous,  since 
it  forms  a  consecutive  part  of  the  author's  account  of  the 
trial,  conviction,  and  execution  of  Raleigh  ? 

Finally,  let  it  be  remembered,  that  Sir  Walter  was  con 
fined  in  the  Tower  for  at  least  two  months  immediately 
preceding  his  death.  Is  it  not  reasonable,  therefore,  to  sup 
pose  that  he  occupied  more  or  less  of  this  time  in  collecting 
materials  for  the  continuation  of  his  history  ?  However  this 
may  be,  we  have  his  positive  and  undoubted  assertion  that 
he  had  "  hewne  out"  a  second  and  third  volume,  and,  un 
less  these  materials  can  be  accounted  for  in  some  other  way, 
there  is  the  strongest  presumptive  evidence  that  he  com 
mitted  them  to  the  flames  in  the  presence  of  his  publisher. 


374  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE   STAR-SPANGLED   BANNER. 

Circumstances  under  which  it  was  written — Two  Accounts — Capture  of 
Dr.  Beans  and  other  Americans — F.  S.  Key  goes  for  their  Release 
and  is  detained  on  a  British  Ship. 

GENERALLY  well  known  as  are  the  main  circumstances 
under  which  our  stirring  national  song  of  the  "  Star* 
Spangled  Banner"  was  written,  the  particulars  thereof  are 
not  so  familiar  to  all  as  riot  to  be  worthy  of  record  in  this 
place.  Recently,  in  examining  a  file  of  the  old  National  In 
telligencer,  I  came  across  this  song  as  first  published  in  that 
paper  on  the  27th  of  September,  1814,  a  fortnight  only 
after  the  battle  of  North  Point,  Baltimore.  It  appears 
there  with  the  following  heading  and  preface : 

"  DEFENCE   OF   FORT   M'HENRY. 

"  (From  a  Baltimore  paper.) 

"  The  annexed  song  was  composed  under  the  following  circumstances : 
A  gentleman  had  left  Baltimore,  with  a  flag  of  truce,  for  the  purpose  of 
getting  released  from  the  British  fleet  a  friend  of  his,  who  had  been 
captured  at  Marlborough.  He  went  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  Patuxent, 
and  was  not  permitted  to  return,  lest  the  intended  attack  on  Baltimore 
should  be  disclosed.  He  was  therefore  brought  up  the  bay  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Patapsco,  where  the  flag  vessel  was  kept  under  the  guns  of  a 
frigate,  and  he  was  compelled  to  witness  the  bombardment  of  Fort 
M'Henry,  which  the  Admiral  (Cockburn)  had  boasted  that  he  would 
carry  in  a  few  hours,  and  that  the  city  must  fall.  He  watched  the  flag 
at  the  fort  through  the  whole  day  with  an  anxiety  that  can  be  better 
felt  than  described,  until  the  night  prevented  him  from  seeing  it.  In 
the  night  he  watched  the  bomb-shells,  and  at  early  dawn  his  eye  was 
again  greeted  by  the  proudly  waving  flag  of  his  country. 
"  Tune — Anacreon  in, Heaven." 

Here  follows  the  song,  at  the  bottom  of  which  is  this 
note  in  brackets  :  "  (Whoever  is  the  author  of  those  lines, 


THE  8TAR-SPANGLED  BANNER.  379 

they  do  equal  honor  to  his  principles  and  his  talents.  —  N 


It  would  appear  that  this  famous  song  had  not  yet 
received  its  characteristic  name,  by  which  it  ha*  long  been 
so  well  known  throughout  the  civilized  world.  With  the 
name  of  its  author,  Francis  8.  Key,  it  is  destined  to  live  as 
long  as  American  independence  shall  hold  a  record  in  the 
history  of  mankind. 

In  Mr.  Charles  J.  Ingersoll's  "  Sketch  of  the  Second 
AVar  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,"  pub- 
blished  in  1849,  the  following  not  less  interesting  account 
is  given  as  having  been  furnished  to  him  by  "  a  gentleman 
of  Bladensburg,"  writing  of  the  remarkable  battle  fought 
there  on  the  24th  of  August,  1814. 

'•'  The  [British]  army  having  pawed  the  Tillage  of  Upper  Marlborough 
en  route  for  their  shipping  (the  second  day  after  the  bottle),  leaving  several 
stragglers  to  follow,  several  gentlemen  of  that  village  formed  the  deter 
mination  to  cat  some  of  them  off  and  make  them  prisoners  of  war.  The 
principal  of  these  gentlemen  were  Dr.  William  Beams,  as  prime  mover, 
and  General  Robert  Bowie  and  John  Bodgers,  who  succeeded  in  making 
several  prisoners,  who  were  confined.  The  British  officers,  bearing  of  this 
occurrence,  however,  that  night  sent  back  a  strong  party  to  the  village, 
who  liberated  the  prisoners,  and,  taking  these  gentlemen  out  of  their 
beds,  hurried  them  off  without  allowing  them  a  moment  to  clothe  them 
selves,  and,  dins  placing  them  on  old  horses,  carried  them,  no  doubt  amid 
the  jeers  of  the  soldiery,  to  the  shipping.  After  many  entreaties  and 
expostulations,  two  of  the  gentlemen  were  let  off  and  permitted  to  return 
to  Upper  Marlborough,  but  they  considered  Dr.  Beans  a  fair  prize,  and 
determined  to  take  him  to  Halifax  or  England.  Having  the  doctor  on 
board,  the  fleet  left  the  Patuxent  River,  and,  ascending  the  Chesapeake 
Bay,  appeared  off  Fort  M'Henry.  The  numerous  and  influential  Mends 
of  Dr.  Beans  immediately  set  to  work  to  devise  some  plan  by  which  an 
effort  might  be  made  to  obtain  his  release  from  the  fleet.  Accordingly  a 
petition  was  signed  by  some  of  the  most  respectable  citizens  of  Prince 
George's  County,  among  whom  were  individuals  who  had  acted  rery 
kindly  towards  Colonel  Wood  and  other  British  officers  and  soldiers  who 
had  been  left  [wounded]  in  Bladensburg,  on  the  return  of  the  British 
army,  of  which  the  commander  of  the  army  or  fleet  was  no  doubt  aware. 
These  preparations  being  made,  the  eloquent  and  talfntpd  Francis  8. 


376  TUENING  ON   THE  LIGHT. 

Key,  the  friend  of  Dr.  Beans,  was  appointed  as  the  messenger  and 
champion  to  go  to  the  rescue.  He  accordingly  proceeded  to  Annapolis, 
and,  by  means  of  a  small  craft  and  the  white  flag,  he  boarded  the  Ad 
miral's  ship,  to  make  known  his  mission.  The  fleet  being  about  to  make 
an  attack  on  Fort  M'Henry,  while  the  army  effected  a  landing  at  North 
Point,  Mr.  Key  was  detained  on  board,  and  compelled,  from  his  position, 
to  witness  the  furious  bombardment  of  Fort  M'Henry.  The  novelty  of 
his  situation,  a  near  view  of  the  powerful  means  then  operating  for  the 
reduction  of  Baltimore  to  the  power  of  the  enemy,  and  the  further  dese 
cration  of  the  American  flag,  his  solicitude  for  the  successful  resistance 
of  his  countrymen,  and  noble  emotions  of  a  patriot  heart  thus  excited 
and  warmed,  produced,  amid  the  storm  and  strife  by  which  he  was  sur 
rounded,  a  memento  worthy  of  the  man  and  honorable  to  his  country ; 
and  long  will  the  '  Star-Spangled  Banner'  be  sung,  to  light  up  in  every 
American  bosom  the  sacred  fire  of  patriotic  devotion  to  the  flag  of  his 
country." 

Francis  S.  Key  was  born  in  1779,  and  died  (I  think)  in 
Washington,  in  1843.  I  remember  him  about  that  time  as 
a  mild,  agreeable,  entertaining  gentleman  ;  and  I  also  recall 
the  fact  of  having,  on  a  Sunday  afternoon,  heard  him  elo 
quently  address  the  Sunday-school  scholars  of  the  city  in 
the  East-Capitol  park. 


PART  IV. 
CHAPTER    I. 

EMPLOYMENT   NECESSARY   TO   HAPPINESS 

IN  every  age  and  clime  since  Time  began, 
In  town  and  city,  hence  to  far  Japan, 
The  world  has  aye  been  furnished,  ready  made, 
With  hosts  of  doctors,  often  poorly  paid, 
Whose  mission,  whether  singly  or  combined, 
Has  been  to  tinker  and  improve  mankind. 
Some  set  themselves  our  bodies  to  amend, 
And  they  are  dubbed  "  M.D.,"  but  for  what  end  ? 
Then  others  take  the  title  "LLJX," 
And  others  "D.D.,"  as  their  high  degree, 
While  those  are  common  who  these  honors  lack, 
On  whom  the  world  confers  the  title  "  quack." 
Some  deal  in  doses  gentle,  some  severe, 
Some  for  effects  hereafter,  others  here — 
Prescriptions,  whether  from  their  heads  or  shelves, 
Which  they  are  seldom  known  to  take  themselves, 
Thus  demonstrating  clearly  what  the  fact  is, 
How  much  more  easy  'tis  to  preach  than  practise. 

0 

Well,  so  it  is,  among  this  class  you  find 
Your  poet  here  to-day,  with  heart  inclined 
To  proffer  in  this  way  a  wholesome  pill, 
One  made  to  ease  and  cure,  and  not  to  kill, — 
Lest,  when  you  come  his  title  to  proclaim, 
The  letter  "  Q"  be  added  to  his  name  ! 
It  matters  not ;  'tis  now,  alas  !  too  late, 
Do  what  he  may,  for  him  to  shun  his  fate ; 

377 


378  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

Your  kind  forbearance,  therefore,  he  would  ask, 
To  bear  him  safely  through  his  pleasant  task. 

At  once,  then,  let  us  offer,  if  we  can, 
The  best  prescriptions  for  the  ills  of  man. 
What  may  these  be  ?    Foremost  among  them  all 
Is  what  we  ever  have  been  taught  to  call 
LABOR  ;  a  tonic,  potent,  free,  and  sure 
A  thousand  ills  to  stop,  if  not  to  cure. 
Yes,  labor,  labor,  in  His  glorious  plan, 
God's  noblest  blessing  to  His  creature,  man. 
Where  seek  we  first  the  ruddy  bloom  of  health, 
A  boon  without  which  none  can  boast  of  wealth  ? 
Where  but  among  the  happy,  free  and  gay, 
Where  honest  labor  rules  the  livelong  day  ? 

Go,  visit  yonder  farm-house  on  the  green, 

If  it  so  happen  you  have  never  been, 

And  see  what  favors  fortune  doth  allow 

To  him  whose  pride  it  is  to  hold  the  plough. 

Go,  in  a  summer  eve,  near  set  of  sun, 

And  when  the  well-planned,  hard  day's  work  is  done, 

See  how  the  farmer  and  his  rugged  boys, 

The  wife  and  daughters,  cherish  life's  rich  joys, 

Free  from  the  cares  that  hinder  or  destroy 

The  calm  delight  of  those  who  shun  employ. 

Behold  his  fields  of  richly-waving  grain, 

Moved  by  the  breeze  that  sweeps  along  the  plain ; 

See  how  they  smile,  kiss'd  by  the  rosy  lips 

Of  mellow  sunbeams  ere  the  night's  eclipse ; 

In  shade  just  changing  to  a  golden  hue — 

In  every  aspect  beautiful  to  view. 

Next  turn  we  to  those  forests,  deeply  green, 
That  in  their  mimic  grandeur  may  be  seen 
Spread  out  in  rows  well  suited  to  adorn 
Broad  acres  covered  thick  with  Indian  corn. 


EMPLOYMENT  NECESSAEY  TO  HAPPINESS.          379 

Look  with  what  care  all  weeds  have  been  removed, 
How  every  means  of  thrift  has  been  improved, 
To  aid  the  willing  stalk  for  well-formed  ear, 
And  bring  a  bounteous  crop  for  winter's  cheer. 
Then  see  those  other  "  patches"  in  between, 
More  modest,  since  their  treasures  are  unseen. 
Oh,  come,  immortal  muses !  show  the  way  to 
Immortalize  that  unpoetic  plant,  potato — 
That  glorious  fruit,  the  French  call  pommes  de  terre, 
Which  meets  a  ready  welcome  everywhere, 
Alike  in  palace,  cabin,  and  in  tent; 
Would  I  could  all  its  virtues  here  present ! 
What,  let  me  ask,  was  General  Marion's  roast, 
He  set  before  his  haughty  British  host, 
When,  without  other  courses,  fruit  or  wine, 
He  asked  him  one  day  at  his  tent  to  dine  ? 
What  but  potatoes,  mealy,  sweet,  and  good  ? 
"  Behold,"  he  said,  "  our  wholesome  daily  food." 
Well  might  the  British  general  quick  discern, 
And  well  the  British  lion  truly  learn 
The  folly  of  contending  with  a  foe 
Thus  ready  every  comfort  to  forego. 
Not  every  comfort,  either,  since  we  see 
They  had  potatoes  plenty,  duty  free. 

But  we  have  rambled,  and  are  passing  by 
Those  splendid  sights  that  all  around  us  lie. 
See  there  the  garden,  crowded  with  all  kinds 
Of  fruits  and  flowers,  while  near  its  border  winds . 
The  mountain  stream,  whose  crystal  waters  flow, 
In  merry  glee,  to  greet  the  lake  below. 

What  recollections  scenes  like  these  awake — 
The  mountain  stream,  the  field,  the  placid  lake — 
Of  boyhood's  pleasant  hours,  when  full  of  life 
We  dwelt  contented,  free  from  worldly  strife ; 


380  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

Content  to  labor  till  our  work  was  done, 
Ne'er  seeking  any  useful  task  to  shun ! 
Nor  were  we  always  made  to  dig  and  toil, 
Lest  work  incessant  might  our  tempers  spoil. 
One  rule,  I  well  remember,  used  to  be — 
A  rule  most  wise,  how  plain  it  is  to  see  ! — 
That  when  it  rained  too  hard  to  work  without, 
We  might  employ  the  time  in — catching  trout. 

Dressed  in  a  suit  the  best  for  such  a  use, 

A  hole-y  suit,  exempt  from  all  abuse ; 

Our  boots  of  cowhide,  coarsely  made  and  stout, 

With  holes  in  toes  to  let  the  water  out ; 

Thus  well  equipped,  with  hooks,  and  line,  and  bait, 

We  hastened  to  the  brook  at  rapid  rate. 

Then  cutting  here  a  rod  of  proper  length, 

Elastic,  slender,  yet  of  ample  strength 

To  bear  the  speckled  swimmer  safe  to  port, 

We  were  prepared  to  enter  on  our  sport. 

And  now,  with  cautious  step,  we  near  the  place, 

Some  well-known  haven  of  the  finny  race, 

And  throwing  in  our  hook,  with  tempting  bait, 

In  breathless  silence  we  their  motions  wait. 

The  invitation  to  this  treach'rous  meal 

Is  quick  accepted,  and  the  hidden  steel, 

Its  work  performing,  holds  its  victim  tight, 

Till  safely  landed,  much  to  our  delight. 

Thus  we  proceed,  exploring  well  the  brook, 

Through  meadow,  pasture,  wood,  in  every  nook, 

Until  well  paid,  and  heedless  of  the  rain, 

We  take  our  fish  and  saunter  home  again. 

Here  let  us  pause,  a  moral  to  discover : 

Barbed  baits  are  common,  mark  it,  the  world  over. 

Next,  see  the  orchard,  with  its  generous  store 
Of  fruit  delicious,  near  the  farmer's  door. 


EMPLOYMENT  NECESSARY  TO  HAPPINESS.          381 

Here  shall  we  find  the  "  good  sort"  and  the  pear, 

The  "summer  sweeting"  and  the  "greening"  fair; 

Here  the  sound  "  russet"  and  the  "  blue  pearmain," 

All  adding  to  his  comfort,  health,  and  gain. 

Some  serve  for  autumn,  some  for  winter  use, 

Some  yield  to  pressure  their  enlivening  juice, 

A  liquid  once  called  cider,  pure  and  plain, 

But  which,  when  "  doctored,"  now  they  call  champagne  ! 

What  sight  more  fair  in  all  the  world  to  see, 

Go  where  we  may,  than  fruitful  apple-tree  ? 

Its  boughs  low-bending  with  their  precious  freight ; 

From  such,  no  doubt,  Eve  slyly  plucked  and  ate. 

How  much  they  seem  to  speak  our  Maker's  praise, 

How  much  remind  us  of  our  childhood  days 

When  apple-parings  were  so  well  prepared 

That  they  who  went  to  pare  were  often  paired  ! 

Behind  the  orchard,  see  the  pasture  green, 
And  herds  reclining  blissful  and  serene. 
To-morrow's  cares  to  them  bring  no  dismay ; 
They  chew  their  cud  in  peace,  and  seem  to  say 
To  us,  who  claim  by  right  their  lords  to  be, 
"  Go  seek  our  trust,  and  evermore  be  free." 

And  now  the  milkmaid  comes  with  honest  heart, 

Well  trained  from  childhood  to  perform  her  part 

In  all  the  useful  duties  that  pertain 

To  household  work,  ne'er  thinking  to  complain. 

With  pail  in  hand  she  hastens  o'er  the  lawn, 

As  well  at  eve  as  in  the  early  dawn ; 

And  in  her  daily  task  is  sure  to  find 

The  food  for  health — a  well-contented  mind. 

Nor  is  she  left  alone  this  work  to  do, 

The  farmer's  boys  assist,  and  nimbly,  too, 

Till  soon  the  shining  dairy  swells  in  pride, 

With  pans  of  milk  in  line  on  either  side. 


382  TURNING  ON   THE  LIGHT. 

But  ere  we  pass  from  this  delightful  scene, 
Turn  we  to  view — 'twill  well  repay,  I  ween — 
The  farmer's  barn,  where  snugly  packed  away 
For  winter's  use  lie  tons  of  well-made  hay. 
Of  life  industrious  here  behold  the  proof, 
The  mows,  hard  pressed,  extend  quite  to  the  roof. 
The  swallow,  twittering,  forced  to  quit  her  nest, 
Retires  to  seek  afar  some  place  of  rest, 
Where,  undisturbed,  the  frigid  winter  through, 
She  sleeps  till  springtime  calls  to  life  anew. 
Beneath  the  scaffolds  here  are  stables  fine, 
With  stalls  arranged  for  oxen,  horse,  and  kine, 
And  here,  secure  from  winter's  piercing  snows, 
The  gentle  herd  may  rest  in  calm  repose. 

Nor  should  we  fail,  in  passing,  to  survey 
The  farmer's  cottage,  and  our  homage  pay 
To  real  worth ;  ourselves  we  honor  most 
By  honoring  thus  our  country's  solid  boast — 
The  hardy  yeoman,  whose  athletic  arm 
Protects  from  want  in  peace,  in  war  from  harm. 
What  air  of  comfort,  what  convenience  here 
For  household  work,  to  every  housewife  dear  ! 
In  kitchen,  pantry,  cellar,  and  in  hall, 
See  how  complete  for  service,  and  how  all, 
With  parlor,  chamber,  stairs  above,  below, 
Is  planned  for  comfort,  not  for  empty  show ; 
Yet  while  the  leading  purpose,  it  is  true, 
Is  use  and  comfort  ever  kept  in  view, 
Still  equal  care  is  used  the  eye  to  please, 
In  structure  pure,  in  ornamental  trees, 
And  all  the  various  ways  contrived  by  art 
T'  insure  convenience  and  a  grace  impart. 

These,  then,  and  more  than  these,  the  happy  fruits 
Of  honest  labor  in  the  world's  pursuits — 


EMPLOYMENT  NECESSARY  TO  HAPPINESS.          383 

Of  life  industrious,  not  on  gain  intent 
For  sake  of  gain ;  but  to  be  wisely  spent 
In  meeting  all  life's  various  wants,  and  save 
From  pains  of  poverty  and  the  poor  man's  grave. 

Next  let  us  pass  to  the  mechanic  art, 
Wherein  so  many  well  perform  their  part. 
Here,  in  the  busy  workshop  we  shall  find 
Rare  genius  with  ripe  scholarship  combined, — 
Eipe  in  the  knowledge  of  transactions  past — 
Ripe,  too,  in  what  concerns  their  trade,  and — last, 
Not  least,  I  own — in  knowledge  true  and  plain, 
That  labor  brings  contentment,  health,  and  gain. 

How  sweet  the  task,  did  I  possess  the  skill, 
This  picture  rough  in  all  its  parts  to  fill, 
By  sketching  each  profession,  art,  and  trade, 
And  showing  how  employment  e'er  is  made 
If  useful,  not  too  constant  nor  severe, 
To  cater  to  our  health  and  pleasure  here. 
Nor  time  nor  skill  will  now  allow  of  this ; 
Yet,  ere  the  subject  we  for  aye  dismiss, 
A  word  of  caution  may  not  be  amiss. 
I  would  not,  sure,  that  man  should  be  a  slave 
To  labor  constant,  but  that  he  should  have 
Time  for  repose  and  pastime  when  inclined, 
And  time,  of  course,  to  cultivate  the  mind. 
Time  for  amusement  never  fail  to  take ; 
Who  would  exclude  it  makes  a  grave  mistake. 

What  saith  a  real  poet  who  once  wrote 

On  this  same  point  ?     Allow  me  here  to  quote  : 

"  How  often  have  I  blest  the  coming  day, 

When  toil,  remitting,  lent  its  turn  to  play; 

And  all  the  village  train,  from  labor  free, 

Led  up  their  sports  beneath  the  spreading  tree, 


384  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

While  many  a  pastime  circled  in  the  shade, 

The  young  contending  as  the  old  surveyed; 

And  many  a  gambol  frolicked  o'er  the  ground, 

And  sleights  of  art  and  feats  of  strength  went  round. 

And  still,  as  each  repeated  pleasure  tired, 

Succeeding  sports  the  mirthful  band  inspired ; 

The  dancing  pair  that  simply  sought  renown 

By  holding  out  to  tire  each  other  down, — 

The  swain  mistrustless  of  his  smutted  face, 

Whilst  secret  laughter  titter'd  round  the  place, — 

The  bashful  virgin's  sidelong  looks  of  love, 

The  matron's  glance  that  would  those  looks  reprove  : 

These  were  thy  charms,  sweet  village  !    Sports  like  these, 

With  sweet  succession,  taught  e'en  toil  to  please." 


One  word  for  any  ready  with  a  sneer 

(Full  sure  am  I,  none  such  are  gathered  here) 

To  speak  contempt'ous  of  the  lab'ring  mass, 

Because  of  labor — let  their  insults  pass. 

Look  when  you  may,  and  you  will  surely  find 

They're  wanting  all  in  character  refined, — 

Their  coat  of  arms  'tis  easy  to  describe, 

'Twill  show  whence  sprang  this  self-inflated  tribe : 

Here,  on  one  side,  are  lapstone,  awl,  and  last — 

A  codfish,  shears,  and  tailor's  goose,  well  cast — 

A  butcher's  knife,  a  wash-tub,  and  a  mop ; 

On  the  reverse,  a  scaffold  with — a  drop. 

All  symbols,  truly,  save  the  one  last  named, 

Of  which  they  have  no  cause  to  be  ashamed, 

Howe'er  it  might  disturb  their  pride  to  see 

That  we  so  well  have  traced  their  pedigree. 

!No,  no,  my  friends,  in  pity  turn  away 

From  such  poor  creatures  of  the  passing  day, 

And  in  the  higher  walks  of  life  aspire 

To  win  renown,  nor  ever  think  to  tire ; — 


EMPLOYMENT  NECESSAEY  TO  HAPPINESS.          385 

Press  on !  press  on  !  proud  of  your  high  estate, — 
Leave  drones  and  upstarts  to  their  sorry  fate. 

But  ere  we  bring  this  rustic  sketch  to  end, 
The  scholar's  task  our  muse  may  well  attend  ; 
For  he  who  delves  for  knowledge,  digs  for  gold, 
And  all  gold-diggers  bear  the  lab'rer's  mould. 
The  student,  then,  deny  it  he  who  can, 
Is  well  and  truly  styled  a  laboring  man ; — 
A  worker  of  the  soil — why  is  he  not, 
Since  daily  cultivation  is  his  lot  ? 
Wrought  not  by  muscle,  like  the  toiling  swain, 
But  that  far  nobler  labor — of  the  brain, 
Without  whose  aid  the  muscles  toil  in  vain. 
His  fields  are  boundless,  he  must  needs  explore, 
So  be  he  reaps,  or  delves  for  precious  ore, 
In  all  the  various  regions  that  present 
Fair  promise  to  the  eye  on  gain  intent ; 
Nor  will  he  fail  a  harvest  to  enjoy, 
Who  thus  his  time  and  talents  doth  employ. 
But  this  plain  fact  e'er  let  him  bear  in  mind, 
The  seeds  he  sows  will  yield  their  fruit  in  kind, 
And  happy  he  who  thus  himself  prepares 
To  gather  naught  but  grain,  unmixed  with  tares. 
The  student,  too,  may  justly  claim  to  be 
A  good  mechanic,  all  will  sure  agree. 
Is't  not  his  wont,  by  true  ambition  fired, 
To  fashion  well  the  implements  required 
In  life's  fierce  battles,  when,  his  school-days  past, 
He  enters  boldly  on  life's  stage  at  last  ? 
And  then,  again,  as  doubtless  you're  aware, 
He's  famed  for — building  castles  in  the  air ! 
An  undertaking  which  he  would  not  start 
Were  he  not  trained  in  the  mechanic  art. 
Thus  have  we  shown  how  it  doth  come  to  pass 
That  students  form  an  active  working  class. 

25 


386  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

Now,  of  the  ladies  may  I  say  a  word  ? 

Of  those,  I  mean,  of  whom  we've  sometimes  heard, 

Who  vainly  boast,  would  you  believe  ?  oh,  fie  ! 

They  never  made  a  bed  nor  baked  a  pie.! 

Nor  boiled  a  pot,  nor  made  a  batch  of  bread, 

Nor  swept  a  room,  nor  combed  a  baby's  head  ! 

My  goodness  !     Can  it  be  that  such  there  are  ? 

Are  any  such  in  market?     Oh,  beware  ! 

Young  men  love  playthings,  but  not  such  as  these 

To  keep ;  be  sure  of  this,  they're  hard  to  please, 

When  in  good  earnest  to  select  a  wife — 

A  partner,  helpmeet,  counsellor  for  life. 

Thus  may  we  see,  through  all  life's  varied  scenes, 
That  work  brings  wealth  and  wealth  supplies  the  means 
To  make  life  easy  and  secure  content 
In  what  alone  concerns  a  life  well  spent. 


CHAPTER    II. 

LIFE. 

0  LIFE  !  what  mystery  thy  birth  enshrouds ! 
For  ages  past  hath  man  in  vain  essayed 
This  mystery  to  solve — thy  origin  to  learn. 
0  Soul !  my  Soul !  speak  out  and  tell  me  clear, 
Whence  came  thou  here  ?  whence  thy  deep  yearning  for 
Immortal  life  ?     Methinks  I  hear  thee  say, 
"  Be  still  and  trust.     In  God  we  live,  and  move, 
And  have  our  being;  more  we  cannot  know." 
Ah,  true  !  but  this  great  truth,  full  well  I  know, 
Thy  restless  spirit  ne'er  will  satisfy. 
In  One  all-ruling  Power  we  must,  we  do 
Believe.     No  revelation,  save  what  all 


LIFE.  387 

May  read  in  Nature's  open  book,  need  we 

To  prove  that  this  is  so.     When  we  recall 

The  countless  wonders  of  the  Universe, 

From  merest  atom  to  the  glorious  sun, 

And  stars,  and  planets,  in  their  order,  all 

In  perfect  harmony  upborne, — and  earth, 

So  fraught  with  beauty,  grandeur,  light,  and  life, — 

All,  all  proclaim  One  over-ruling  Hand. 

But  this,  does  this  assurance  give  that  we, 

The  vale  of  death  once  passed,  shall  live  again  ? 

That  in  a  higher,  purer  sphere,  our  souls 

Shall  mingle  in  communion  sweet,  and  know, 

As  we,  in  this  life  present,  one  another  know  ? 

Momentous  questions  these,  that  ever  rise 

And  constant  audience  seek.     'T  is  true,  the  words 

Of  revelation  come  belief  to  claim — 

All  doubt  dispel ;  yet  few,  methinks,  are  there 

Who  do  not  crave  more  light.    Whence  shall  this  come  ? 

Whither  to  end  all  doubt,  seek  we  for  proof? 

Not,  surely,  in  the  grovelling  passions  of 

The  carnal  heart,  that  drag  to  lowest  depths 

And  darkness  dire ;  but  upward,  upward,  where 

The  mental  vision  scope  may  take  afar, 

Without  obstruction  from  the  earth  below. 

We  can  ascend.     United  by  the  bonds 

Of  love,  and  taking  for  our  guide  the  rule — 

The  Golden  Rule  that  never  leads  astray — 

Our  souls  may  rise  to  regions  clear,  so  full 

Of  heavenly  light  that  'twixt  eternal  life 

And  this,  no  barrier  appears. 


388  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 


CHAPTER    III. 

POETRY  AN   INSPIRATION  :    MR.   STODDARD?S  RATHER  STARTLING 
ASSERTION    TO    THE   CONTRARY. 

WHOEVER  has  read  Sir  Edwin  Arnold's  "Light  of  the 
"World"  will  doubtless  have  observed  that,  in  his  intro 
duction  to  it,  Richard  Henry  Stoddard  makes  the  rather 
startling  assertion  that  what  has  heretofore  been  generally 
received  as  an  admitted  fact,  that  real  poetry  is  an  inspira 
tion,  is,  after  all,  in  his  estimation,  only  "  a  delusion  which 
was  fostered  by  immature  rhymesters  to  palliate  their  short 
comings  and  impart  dignity  to  their  trivialities."  This 
would  appear  to  be  taking  direct  issue  with  the  author  of 
the  oft-repeated  epigram  that  "  poets  are  born,  not  made," 
and  he  adds  that  poetry  "  is  now  as  universally  recog 
nized  to  be  an  art  as  painting,  sculpture,  or  music,  and 
the  rules  to  which  it  conforms  have  been  gathered  from 
the  practice  of  the  masters  and  formulated  into  a  system 
of  critical  laws,  which  not  to  know  is  to  know  nothing 
of  poetry."  Undoubtedly,  what  passes  for  good  poetry, 
so  far  as  sense  and  rhythm  are  concerned,  may  be  com 
posed  without  any  special  inspiration,  but  I  am  inclined 
to  believe  that  in  order  to  the  production  of  the  most  per 
fect  spirituelle  character  of  poetry,  the  author  himself  must 
be  inspired  above  any  help  from  art  or  "  system  of  critical 
laws,"  just,  for  instance,  as  a  mere  mechanical  performer 
on  a  musical  instrument,  with  little  or  no  ear  for  harmony 
of  sound,  may  touch  every  note  correctly  without  the  ability 
to  thrill  the  listener  like  an  Ole  Bull  or  a  Bischoff.  Says 
Cicero,  "  Nascimur  poetce,  fanus  oratores"  We  are  born 
poets ;  by  education  we  may  become  orators. 

Let  us  hear  also  what  the  "  Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast 
Table"  says  of  his  experience  : 


POETRY  AN  INSPIRATION.  389 

"  A  lyric  conception  hits  like  a  bullet  in  the  forehead.  I  have  often 
had  the  blood  drop  from  my  cheeks  when  it  struck,  and  felt  that  I  turned 
as  white  as  death.  Then  comes  a  creeping  as  of  centipedes  running 
down  the  spine  ;  then  a  gasp  and  a  great  jump  of  the  heart ;  then  a  sud 
den  flush,  and  a  beating  of  the  vessels  of  the  head ;  then  a  long  sigh,  and 
the  poem  is  written.  ...  I  said  written,  but  did  not  say  copied.  Every 
such  poem  has  a  soul  and  a  body,  and  it  is  the  body  of  it,  or  the  copy, 
that  men  read  and  publishers  pay  for.  The  soul  of  it  is  born  in  an 
instant  in  the  poet's  soul.  It  comes  to  him  a  thought  tangled  in  the 
meshes  of  a  few  sweet  words — words  that  have  loved  each  other  from  the 
cradle  of  the  language,  but  have  never  been  wedded  until  now.  .  .  .  No 
wonder  the  ancients  made  the  poetical  impulse  wholly  external — goddess, 
muse,  divine  afflatus,  something  outside  always.  I  never  wrote  any  verses 
worth  reading.  I  can't.  I  am  too  stupid.  If  ever  I  copied  any  that 
were  worth  reading,  I  was  only  a  medium." 

Undoubtedly  the  art  of  poetry  may  be  acquired,  but  with 
out  that  inspiration  which  comes  to  the  aid  of  every  true 
poet,  what  is  produced  is  little,  if  any,  better  than  rhymed 
prose.  Emerson  calls  it  "  that  dream  power  which  every 
night  shows  thee  is  thy  own;  a  power  transcending  all 
limit  and  privacy,  and  by  virtue  of  which  a  man  is  the  con 
ductor  of  the  whole  river  of  electricity." 

As  an  appropriate  conclusion  to  these  hasty  comments 
let  us  turn  to  Sir  Edwin  Arnold's  proem  preceding  his 
beautiful  poem : 

"  The  Sovereign  Voice  spoke  once  more  in  my  ear : 

'  Write,  now,  a  song  unstained  by  any  tear  !' 

'  What  shall  I  write  ?'  I  said.     The  Voice  replied, 

'  Write  what  We  tell  thee  of  the  Crucified  !' 

'  How  shall  I  write,'  I  said,  '  who  am  not  meet 

One  word  of  that  sweet  speaking  to  repeat  ?' 

'  It  shall  be  given  unto  thee !     Do  this  thing !' 

Answered  the  Voice :  '  Wash  thy  lips  clean  and  sing !'  " 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  May  10,  1891. 


390  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

CHAPTER    IV. 

CROSSING   THE    OCEAN. 
New  Sensations — Singular  Coincidence— Ocean  Hymns. 

FOR  one  who  has  never  been  out  of  sight  of  land,  it  is 
no  slight  undertaking  to  come  to  a  fixed  determination  to 
cross  the  Atlantic.  Speaking  for  myself,  I  am  free  to  ac 
knowledge  that,  when,  in  the  year  1867,  I  began  to  think 
seriously  of  it — propelled  by  no  imperative  order  or  busi 
ness,  but  moved  mainly  by  a  desire  for  rest  and  to  see 
something  of  the  Old  World — it  required  all  the  resolution 
at  my  command  to  make  up  my  mind  actually  to  engage 
my  passage  and  prepare  for  the  voyage.  In  fact,  even  after 
I  had  reached  this  determination,  and  had  selected  my 
state-room  on  the  good  steamship  Fulton,  Captain  Charles 
H.  Townsend,  to  sail  from  New  York  to  Havre  on  the  llth 
of  May,  it  was  not  until  we  were  fairly  set  out  upon  the 
great  deep — no  land  in  sight — that  I  came  gradually  to 
realize  the  actual  truth  that  surely,  beyond  doubt,  I  was 
leaving  my  own  country  to  set  foot  on  another  and  far  dis 
tant  continent.  ...  I  was  now  keenly  sensible  to  the  truth 
of  the  remarks  of  Madame  de  Stael,  that  "  It  becomes  a 
much  more  serious  matter  to  quit  one's  country  when  in 
going  away  it  is  necessary  to  cross  the  sea.  Everything," 
she  adds,  "  is  solemn  in  a  voyage  of  which  the  ocean  marks 
the  first  steps  :  it  seems  that  an  abyss  opens  behind  you, 
and  that  the  return  may  be  forever  impossible.  Moreover, 
the  sight  of  the  sea  always  makes  a  profound  impression ; 
it  is  the  image  of  the  Infinite  which  attracts  the  soul  in 
cessantly,  and  in  which,  without  cessation,  the  soul  appears 
to  lose  itself." 

Out  to  sea !  Only  they  who  have  bidden  adieu  to  home 
and  dear  friends,  and  thus,  as  it  were  in  a  dream,  found 


CROSSING  THE  OCEAN.  391 

themselves  on  the  bosom  of  the  great  deep,  with  no  land 
nor  a  living  thing  outside  their  vessel  in  sight,  save  a  flock 
of  gulls — our  constant  companions  much  of  the  way  over 
and  back — can  realize  the  feeling  which  I  now  experi 
enced.  It  was  a  new  sensation,  one  of  the  remarkable 
characteristics  of  which  is  a  feeling,  I  may  say,  of  utter 
helplessness  as  regards  all  human  support.  I  am  happy, 
however,  to  observe  that  this  experience  was  to  me  a  source 
of  joy  on  account  of  the  realization — more  vivid,  if  possi 
ble,  than  ever  before — of  the  Omnipotent  Presence.  .  .  . 

On  both  Sabbaths  going  over — we  had  a  long  passage — 
there  were  religious  services  in  the  saloon,  and,  if  I  may 
judge  from  the  interest  and  solemnity  apparent  on  every 
countenance,  there  was  on  the  part  of  all  present — and  there 
were  few  or  no  absent  passengers  on  that  occasion — a  deep 
and  increased  feeling  of  dependence  on  the  Almighty  arm, 
a  sincere  and  hearty  thankfulness  for  His  merciful  care  of 
us,  which  can  never  be  effaced  from  our  memories.  It  is, 
indeed,  a  fact,  not  a  little  singular,  perhaps,  that  this  feeling 
found  utterance  in  two  hymns  composed  by  two  of  the 
passengers — Henry  F.  King  and  his  father — without  either 
knowing  the  intention  of  the  other,  which  hymns  were 
sung  at  those  meetings,  all  who  could  sing  joining  in  them, 
having  supplied  themselves  with  copies  thereof.  The  first 
(the  son's  composition),  to  the  tune  of  "  America,"  was 
sung  as  follows  : 

Our  Father,  hear  our  prayer, 
As  we  are  gathered  here, 

To  worship  Thee. 
Keep  us,  a  little  band, 
Well  in  Thy  guiding  hand, 
And  bring  us  safe  to  land 

Beyond  the  sea. 

We  give  our  thanks  to  Thee, 
Gratefully,  willingly, 
For  all  Thy  care 


392  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

Since  we  have  left  our  home, 
O'er  foreign  lands  to  roam ; 
And  may  we  ever  come 
To  Thee  in  prayer. 

O  Thou  who  ruPst  the  wave, 
And  hast  the  power  to  save, 

Thy  praise  we  sing. 
Praised  be  Thy  holy  name, 
Throughout  the  world  the  same, 
Above  all  earthly  fame, 

Great  God,  our  King. 

The  other,  to  the  tune  of  "  Old  Hundred,"  as  follows  : 

Great  God,  we  come  with  grateful  hearts 

To  offer  up  our  thanks  to  Thee 
For  all  Thy  mercies,  all  Thy  care 

Of  us,  Thy  children  on  the  sea. 

Oh,  bear  us  safely  to  the  shore, 

With  one  united  voice  we  pray  ; 
To  Thee  we  look — Thee  we  adore — 

To  Thee  our  heartfelt  homage  pay. 

Watch  o'er  us  evermore,  and  guide 

Our  footsteps  wheresoe'er  we  be ; 
In  storm  or  sunshine,  oh,  abide 

With  us,  Thy  children  on  the  sea. 

Then  shall  we  feel  no  dread  alarm ; 

Our  souls  will  rest  in  peace  on  Thee  ; 
Our  trust  sincere,  safe  from  all  harm, 

Behold  Thy  children  on  the  sea. 

Here  is  another  ocean  hymn  and  some  impromptu  stan 
zas,  composed  by  the  present  writer  on  board  the  Cunard 
steamship  Scotia,  Captain  Leitch,  on  her  outward  trip,  May 
12,  1875,  himself  and  wife  being  passengers.  Our  sailing 
day  was  Wednesday,  and  the  hymn  was  sung  to  the  tune 
of  "  God  Save  the  Queen,"  as  a  part  of  the  religious  ser 
vices  on  Sunday.  It  was  also  included  in  the  religious  ser 
vices,  one  Sunday,  on  the  Cunarder  Bothnia,  when  we  were 


CROSSING  THE  OCEAN.  393 

returning  home  in  the  following  May — arriving  on  the  16th 

of  that  month. 

Father  of  Light  and  Love, 
High  on  Thy  throne  above, 

Give  us  thine  ear. 
All  weak  and  powerless,  we, 
Thy  children  on  the  sea, 
Would  turn  our  thoughts  to  Thee, 

And  nothing  fear. 

O  God,  in  Thee  we  trust ; 
On  Jesus'  bosom  must 

Our  safety  be ; 
Then  would  we  ever  rest 
Our  heads  upon  His  breast — 
The  haven  e'er  the  best, 

On  land  or  sea. 

Oh,  take  us  safe  to  shore, 
Thy  guidance  we  implore 

From  day  to  day ; 
To  Thee  our  thanks  we  bring, 
Give  us  all  hearts  to  sing 
The  praises  of  our  King, 

His  will  obey. 


"  ALL'S  WELL." 
List  to  the  sound  of  bells, 
As  on  the  air  it  swells 
And  in  the  darkness  tells 

The  hour  of  night ; 
Then  hear  the  watchman's  cry — 
On  lookout  to  espy 
All  danger  far  and  nigh — 

That  all  is  right. 

The  cheering  words,  "  All's  well," 
All  nervous  fears  dispel 
And  to  our  senses  tell 

That  safety  reigns. 
Then  sink  we  into  rest, 
Lulled  by  the  foamy  crest 
Upon  the  ocean's  breast, 

In  solemn  strains. 


394  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

Now,  when  life's  end  is  near, 
And  all  seems  dark  and  drear, 
We  breathless  list  to  hear 

The  last  hour  bell ; 
Oh,  may  the  joyful  word 
In  silver  tones  be  heard — 

"ALL'S  WELL." 


CHAPTER    V. 

SAVED   BY   FRIED   CHICKEN — HOW   COLONEL     TARLETON    FAILED 
TO   CAPTURE   THOMAS   JEFFERSON. 

IN  1781  Lord  Cornwallis  sought  to  capture  the  Governor 
(Thomas  Jefferson)  and  the  legislature  of  Virginia,  sitting 
at  Richmond,  and  afterwards  at  Charlottesville,  to  which 
town  they  hastily  adjourned  to  avoid  arrest.  Failing  at 
Richmond,  Colonel  Tarleton,  in  command  of  the  expedi 
tion,  with  a  force  of  cavalry  and  infantry,  pursued,  but  suc 
ceeded,  as  history  states,  in  capturing  only  "  some  members 
of  the  assembly,"  evidently  not  more  than  two  or  three. 

There  is  a  tradition  that  Tarleton's  failure  arose  from  his 
fondness  for  fried  chicken.  The  scouting  party  stopped  at 
Dr.  Joseph  Walker's  plantation,  some  twenty  miles  from 
Charlottesville,  for  breakfast,  when  a  messenger  was  sent 
in  hot  haste  to  warn  the  Virginians  of  their  advance. 
Rations  were  distributed  to  the  men,  and  the  family  cook 
made  haste  to  get  up  a  real  Virginia  meal  for  the  colonel 
and  his  staff.  Twice  she  prepared  a  delicious  dish  of  fried 
chicken,  and  both  times,  when  her  back  was  turned,  some 
of  the  hungry  soldiers  dashed  into  the  kitchen  and  carried 
it  off. 

Tarleton  was  angry  at  the  delay,  but  was  told  that  what 
there  was  of  the  meal  could  be  served  at  once  if  he  desired, 
but  that  if  he  wished  to  have  chicken  he  must  set  a  cor- 


TARLETON'S  RAID.  395 

poral's  guard  to  protect  the  cook.  This  he  ordered  done. 
The  guard  was  set,  the  chickens  were  cooked  and  eaten, 
but  the  delay  enabled  the  messenger  to  reach  Charlottes- 
ville  and  give  the  alarm  in  time. 

TAKLETON'S  RAID. 

In  seventeen  hundred  eighty-one, — 

In  revolution  time, — 
The  march  of  Tarleton  was  begun 

In  grandeur  all  sublime. 

In  Richmond  town  his  forces  lay, 

Whence  government  had  fled 
To  Charlottesville,  long  miles  away, 

By  common  prudence  led. 

Tom  Jefferson,  the  chief,  was  there, 

The  legislature,  too ; 
And  Tarleton,  balked,  did  then  declare, 

"  I'll  capture  the  whole  crew." 

So  off  he  started  with  his  force, 

Made  up  with  great  display, 
Of  infantry,  as  well  as  horse, 

Full  sure  to  win  the  day. 

When  he  had  reached  the  Walker  place, 

Some  twenty  miles  from  town, 
He  called  a  halt  and  slackened  pace  ; 

The  troopers  all  got  down. 

To  breakfast,  now,  the  order  passed, 

For  hunger  called  aloud, 
And  rations  for  the  men  flew  fast 

Among  the  waiting  crowd. 

The  colonel  and  his  body-guard 

On  Dinah  did  depend — 
As  kitchen  maid,  she  thought  it  hard, 

But  dared  not  to  offend. 

The  colonel  gave  an  order  stern 

To  get  a  meal  right  then 
Of  chicken  fried  and  rolls  the  best, 

And  keep  it  from  his  men. 


396  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

Now,  Dinah  had  received  a  hint 

To  be  in  no  great  haste, 
And  never  in  the  least  to  stint 

In  catering  to  their  taste. 

Their  breakfast  being  well  set  out 

As  any  one  could  wish, 
Some  soldiers,  lurking  thereabout, 

Broke  in  and  seized  the  dish. 

Again  our  Dinah  turned  a  hand 

To  get  another  meal ; 
No  sooner  done  than  came  a  band 

And  every  crumb  did  steal. 

Meantime  a  messenger  had  flown, 
As  fast  as  horse  could  go, 

To  Charlottesville,  to  make  there  known 
What  then  they  did  not  know, — 

That  Tarleton,  by  Cornwallis  sent, 

Had  started  on  the  run 
To  capture  all  the  government, 

Including  Jefferson. 

Black  Dinah,  feigning  sore  distress, 
To  Tarleton  made  her  way, 

Her  wounded  feelings  to  express, 
And  this  to  him  did  say : 

"  Dem  deuced  sogers,  over  dar, 
Did  broke  into  my  kitchen, 
And,  'pon  my  honor,  I  declar', 
Dey  stol'd  dat  mess  of  chicken. 

"  But,  colonel,  ef  you  is  in  haste, 

Dere's  odder  vittles  cooked, 

Dat  can  be  fixt  to  suit  you  taste, 

Dem  sogers  is  not  hooked." 

The  colonel  now  began  to  rave, 
And  swore  right  up  and  down, 

That  chicken  fried  he  sure  would  have, 
Before  he  left  the  town. 


TAKLETON'S  RAID.  397 

"  Den  you  must  send  de  corpTs  guard," 

Said  Dinah,  with  a  look 
Impatient,  sharp,  and  very  hard, 
"  For  to  protect  de  cook." 

"  Here,  adjutant,"  the  colonel  cried, 

"  Go  set  a  guard  to  see 
That,  when  again  the  fowls  are  fried, 
The  rogues  do  not  cheat  me." 

Then  Dinah  went  to  work  again, 

And  in  good  time  prepared 
A  breakfast  luscious,  though  but  plain, 

In  which  no  pains  were  spared. 

With  gusto,  Tarleton  and  his  staff 

Now  ate  the  food  well  done — 
It  was  a  scene  to  make  one  laugh — 

And  then  they  travelled  on. 

But  when  they  came  to  Charlottesville, 

The  legislative  hall 
Was  vacant,  closed,  and  very  still — 

No  members  there  at  all. 

All  had  escaped,  save  one  or  two, 

Too  weak  to  leave  the  place, 
And  knew  no  better  way  to  do 

Than  knuckle  in  the  race. 

In  haste  the  colonel  pushes  on 

To  Monticello's  shade, 
Full  sure  of  seizing  Jefferson — 

Main  object  of  his  raid. 

But,  well  forewarned,  the  able  chief 

Slipped  off  without  delay, 
While  Tarleton,  smothering  his  grief, 

Turned  round — and  rode  away. 

Thus,  'twill  be  seen,  the  colonel  had 

Of  chicken  fried  partaken ; 
And  Jefferson  was  very  glad, 

For  it  had  "  saved  his  bacon." 


398  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

CHAPTER   VI. 

PATRIOTIC    POEM. 

RECITED    AT   THE    REUNION    OF    THE   ARMY  OF    THE   POTOMAC,   JULY 
3,   1890,   AT   PORTLAND,   ME. 

WHO  shall  tell  in  rhythmic  measure 

All  the  story  of  the  war  ? 
What  became  of  untold  treasure  ? 

Who  shall  tell  what  it  was  for  ? 

How  the  conflict,  like  no  other, 

Spread  affliction  far  and  wide ; 
Brother  madly  fighting  brother, 

Fiercely  ranged  on  either  side. 

Oh,  the  wicked,  fatal  error 

Of  the  rash  resort  to  arms ! 
Filling  every  heart  with  terror — 

Every  day  with  war's  alarms ! 

Now  I  mind  me,  when  I  started 

On  life's  mission,  long  ago — 
Only  just  from  boyhood  parted — 

I  beheld  the  signs  of  woe. 

North  and  south  I  saw  arising, 

Plain  before  my  anxious  eyes, 
Little  clouds,  not  yet  surprising, 

On  the  face  of  tranquil  skies. 

True,  to  some  they  foretold  danger, 
Meagre  as  their  forms  appeared ; 

Not  so  to  the  passing  stranger : 
He  saw  nothing  to  be  feared. 


PATRIOTIC  POEM.  399 

Nor  was  any  early  meeting 

Thought  at  that  time  to  impend, 
Of  these  clouds  portentous — fleeting 

Whereso'er  their  motion  tend. 


Peace  and  Plenty  held  their  places, 

Smiling  on  a  happy  land ; 
All  serene  their  air,  like  Graces 

Crowned  with  beauty,  hand-in-hand. 

Strange  that  at  a  time  so  cheering 

I  should  see  in  vivid  dream 
Armies  in  the  skies  appearing, 

Hostile  in  degree  supreme. 

What,  I  asked  myself  in  wonder, 
Does  this  startling  vision  show  ? 

Is  it  this — in  doubt  I  ponder — 
Must  we  meet  a  foreign  foe  ? 

Seemed  no  cause  for  such  collision, 

All  was  quiet  over  sea ; 
What  should  aid  to  a  decision 

In  the  matter,  puzzled  me. 

But  at  length  the  clouds,  expanding, 

Move  in  angry  aspect  near, 
Dark  before  each  other  standing, 

Touching  patriots'  hearts  with  fear. 

Look !  what  means  this  strange  communion  ? 

See  !  emblazoned  on  each  cloud, 
In  letters  bold,  the  word  DISUNION  ! 

All  alarming,  fierce,  and  loud ! 


400  TUENING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

Hark !  what  sound  is  that  conspiring, 
Rumbling,  trembling,  from  afar  ? 

'Tis  from  guns  on  Sumter  firing ! 
Tocsin  dread  of  civil  war ! 


Oh !  what  act  of  direful  madness ! 

Oh  !  the  folly  of  the  strife  ! 
Oh  !  what  cause  of  deepest  sadness ! 

Who  shall  save  the  nation's  life  ? 

Such  was  my  first  exclamation, 

Standing  near  the  helm  of  state  ; 
Whence  should  come  the  declaration 

That  should  my  distress  abate  ! 

"  To  arms !  to  arms !"  the  cry  went  forth 
From  LINCOLN'S  proud  and  lofty  post. 

"  Wake  !  East  and  West  and  South  and  North ! 
Spring,  spring  to  arms,  a  mighty  host ! 

"  Our  flag  insulted  bids  you  come; 

It  calls  for  patriots  strongly  nerved  ; 
March  quickly,  cheered  by  fife  and  drum, 

The  UNION  it  must  be  preserved !" 

As  when  the  mighty  river's  banks 

Are  swollen  by  the  sudden  flood, 
The  people  rushed  to  fill  the  ranks, 

And  in  a  solid  phalanx  stood. 

The  nation's  capital  their  aim, 

They  moved  at  once  in  grand  array, 

As  line  on  serried  line  they  came 
Thejr  noble  chieftain  to  obey. 


PATRIOTIC  POEM.  401 

A  brief  suspense,  and  then  they  start 
To  meet  their  bold  and  threatening  foe; 

Each  man  inflamed  to  do  his  part, 
Kor  any  hardship  to  forego. 

Now,  soon  is  heard  the  clash  of  arms, 

Afar  the  cannon's  angry  roar, 
O'erwhelming  all  with  war's  alarms, 

That  spread,  like  fire,  from  door  to  door. 

Too  late !  the  fatal  shot  was  fired 

"When  aimed  in  hate  at  Sumter's  shield ; 

Almost,  alas  !  all  hope  expired 
When  patriots  fell  on  battle-field. 

Too  late !  too  late  !  the  war  goes  on 
In  blood  and  carnage — oh,  how  long ! 

Until,  at  last,  the  RIGHT  has  won — 
Until  defeat  o'erwhelms  the  WRONG. 

Peace  now  resumed  her  rightful  sway; 

Those  hateful  clouds  have  disappeared ; 
DISUNION  sank  with  them  away, 

And  UNION  her  proud  ensign  reared. 

Flag  of  our  free,  united  land, 

Float  on  !  float  on  !  o'er  sea  and  strand ! 

We  greet  thee,  seen  away  from  home, 

In  foreign  climes,  where'er  we  roam, 

With  pride  and  satisfaction  pure, 

A  shield  and  safeguard  strong  and  sure. 

Float  on !  float  on !  no  longer  fear  ! 

All  hearts  are  with  thee,  far  and  near. 

Float  on !  float  on  !  from  shore  to  shore ! 

Float  on !  float  on !  forevermore ! 

26 


PART  V. 
CHAPTER  I. 

QUEEN   VICTORIA — INTERESTING  INCIDENTS   IN   HER   LIFE. 

AT  sunrise  on  a  beautiful  morning,  the  24th  of  May, 
1819,  in  an  old  palace  looking  out  upon  Kensington  Park. 
Alexandrina  Victoria  was  born.  The  privy  councillors  and 
great  officers  of  state,  near  by,  were  immediately  called  in 
as  certifying  witnesses,  and  "  the  Duke  of  Kent,  with  his 
own  hand,  signified  the  joyful  news  to  all  his  relatives  both 
at  home  and  abroad  before  he  retired  to  rest."  It  was 
regarded  as  "  an  omen  of  goodly  import  that  the  day  and 
hour  which  ushered  the  future  sovereign  into  the  world 
was  the  same  which  had  eighty-one  years  before  given  birth 
to  her  revered  grandfather."  The  event  was  the  more  joy 
ful  from  the  fact  that  the  British  nation  had  but  recently 
been  called  to  mourn  the  sudden  death  of  the  beautiful 
Princess  Charlotte,  wife  of  Leopold  I.,  of  Belgium,  and 
heir  to  the  throne.  The  British  people  will  never  cease 
to  cherish  with  the  warmest  affection  the  memory  of  this 
lamented  Princess,  who  so  suddenly,  with  her  new-born 
infant,  fell  asleep  to  awake  no  more  on  earth.  A  touch- 
ingly  beautiful  white  marble  monument  in  St.  George's 
Chapel  at  Windsor,  representing  her  reclining  figure,  is 
gazed  upon  with  melancholy  interest  by  all  beholders. 

The  Duchess  of  Kent  was  a  true  mother  to  her  infant 
princess,  whose  baptism  and  initiation  into  the  church  in  the 
names  I  have  given  were  performed  "  with  all  the  pomp 
of  circumstance"  when  she  was  four  weeks  old.  Instead  of 
taking  what  was  said  to  be  the  usual  course  of  the  nobility 

402 


QUEEN   VICTORIA.  403 

and  turning  her  royal  babe  over  to  a  third  person  for  daily 
sustenance,  with  maternal  tenderness  she  nursed  the  child 
herself,  greatly  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  English  people. 
Never,  probably,  were  parents  happier  in  the  possession  or 
prouder  of  a  promising  and  lovely  child  than  were  the  good 
Duke  and  Duchess  of  Kent  with  their  little  treasure.  It  is 
said  of  the  Duke,  who  in  a  few  short  months  was  snatched 
by  death  from  the  amiable  Duchess  and  her  infant  off 
spring,  that  he  used  with  exulting  joy  to  present  his 
"  smiling  cherub  to  each  succeeding  guest,  and  listen  with 
unwearied  delight  to  their  perpetually  repeated  praises  of 
its  activity,  intelligence,  and  beauty." 

It  \vas  unfortunate,  not  to  say  cruel,  for  so  kind  and 
devoted  a  parent  to  be  wounded  in  feeling  as  he  was 
on  the  occasion  of  a  grand  review  which  took  place  on 
Hounslow  Heath  not  long  after  the  christening.  At  this 
review  "  The  Prince  Regent  was  present,  attended  by  a 
splendid  train  of  military  officers,  among  whom  was  the 
Duke  of  Kent.  The  Royal  Duchess  was  on  the  heath  in 
her  carriage,  accompanied  by  the  Princess  Victoria  and 
her  attendants.  The  Regent  is  said  to  have  objected  to 
this  early  display  of  parental  pride,  and,  turning  to  the 
Duke  of  Kent,  asked,  with  some  displeasure,  "  Why  was 
not  that  infant  left  at  home  ?  She  is  too  young  to  be 
brought  into  public."  The  unkind  rebuke  evidently  cut  to 
the  quick,  since  we  are  assured  that  "  into  the  public  the 
royal  babe  was  brought  no  more  during  the  short  period  of 
her  father's  life ;  and  it  is  believed  that  to  this  expression 
of  the  Regent's  opinion  may  in  some  measure  be  attributed 
the  extreme  retirement  in  which  the  first  ten  years  of  the 
young  Princess's  life  were  passed." 

Except  this  unpleasant  episode,  nothing  appears  to  have 
occurred  to  disturb  the  current  of  happiness,  during  the 
following  summer,  at  Kensington  Palace.  The  Duke  and 
Duchess  were  often  to  be  "  seen  walking  arm  and  arm  in 
the  beautiful  grounds  which  surrounded  the  palace,  min- 


404  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

gling  with  pleasure  among  their  delighted  countrymen. 
The  interest  of  the  scene  was  much  increased  by  the  pres 
ence  of  the  royal  infant,  who,  in  the  arms  of  her  nurse, 
would  answer  with  her  innocent  smiles  to  the  occasional 
caresses  of  her  fond  parents,  and  the  more  respectful  notice 
of  the  spectators,"  no  strangers,  however,  being  permitted 
to  approach  her  too  closely. 

During  the  ensuing  winter  months  "  their  Royal  High 
nesses  had  removed  into  Devonshire  for  the  benefit  of  its 
milder  climate,  but  had  scarcely  domesticated  themselves 
in  their  beautiful  retreat,  Woolbrook  Cottage,  Sidmouth, 
before  the  illustrious  Duke  was  seized  with  severe  indis 
position,  the  effects  of  a  neglected  cold,  which,  defying  all 
the  efforts  of  medicine,  terminated  fatally  within  a  fort 
night  from  the  first  attack.  The  Duchess  was  immediately 
withdrawn  from  the  scene  of  her  bereavement,"  and  re 
turned  to  Kensington  Palace,  where  she  received  the  kind 
est  attention  of  friends,  including  Prince  Leopold,  the 
Duchess  of  Clarence,  then  the  amiable  Queen  Dowager, 
and  other  members  of  the  royal  family. 

This  touching  incident  is  related  of  the  Duke  of  York's 
first  visit  to  his  afflicted  sister-in-law.  Having  inquired  for 
his  infant  niece,  she  was  no  sooner,  in  compliance  with  his 
desire,  brought  into  the  room,  than,  recognizing,  it  is  sup 
posed,  his  great  resemblance  to  her  deceased  father,  she 
stretched  out  her  little  arms  towards  him  and  called  him 
"  Papa."  The  Duke  was  greatly  affected,  and,  clasping  her 
to  his  bosom,  promised  to  be  indeed  a  father  to  her.  "  This 
promise,  as  far  as  circumstances  would  admit,  he  always 
faithfully  observed ;"  and  his  fatherly  care  and  kindness 
were  u  repaid  by  her  infantile  love  and  gratitude,  particu 
larly  exemplified  in  his  last  illness,  when  she  visited  him 
daily,  always  carrying  in  her  hand  a  beautiful  bouquet  of 
choice  flowers,  with  which  the  Duke  delighted  to  decorate 
his  private  sitting-room,  until  it  was  replaced  on  the  follow 
ing  day  by  a  fresh  supply  from  her  store  of  sweets." 


QUEEN  VICTORIA.  405 

From  all  accounts  the  young  Princess  must  have  been 
an  uncommonly  interesting  child,  and  she  was  frequently 
spoken  of  as  beautiful,  with  her  bright  blue  eyes  and  ruddy, 
round  face.  Like  all  smart  children,  her  cunning  childish 
actions  were  a  constant  subject  of  remark  as  well  as  source 
of  pleasure  to  her  friends.  During  these  years  of  early 
childhood  she  "  was  daily  to  be  seen  riding  or  running 
about  in  Kensington  Gardens,  and  her  intercourse  with  the 
visitors"  is  represented  as  "  of  a  very  endearing  descrip 
tion." 

Her  father,  as  is  well  known,  was  the  fourth  son  of 
George  III.,  and  her  mother  was  a  sister  of  Leopold  I., 
being  at  the  time  of  the  marriage,  in  the  month  of  July, 
1818,  a  young  widow,  the  Princess  Leiningen,  with  two 
children — a  son  whose  name  was  Charles  Emrich,  and  a 
daughter  named  Feodora — a  prince  and  princess,  of  course. 
In  all  her  early  years  Victoria  had  for  a  constant  attendant 
or  companion  her  half-sister,  the  young  Princess  Feodora, 
by  whom  she  was  frequently  drawn  in  her  little  carriage, 
other  attendants  also  being  along.  I  may  remark  here  that 
Prince  Charles  Emrich  died  in  1850,  and  the  Princess  Feo 
dora  (afterwards  by  marriage  the  Princess  Hohenlohe-Lan- 
genburg)  on  the  23d  of  September,  1872.  To  the  last  the 
sisters  were  devotedly  attached  to  each  other.  In  her  diary 
the  Queen,  referring  to  the  time,  in  1824,  when  she  herself 
was  only  five  years  of  age,  and  when  she  resided  in  com 
pany  with  Feodora  at  Claremont,  says :  "  Those  days  at 
Claremont  were  the  happiest  of  my  childhood."  Her  Ger 
man  kinsfolk  called  Victoria  "  the  little  May  Flower." 

Very  shortly  after  her  fourth  year  the  King  issued  cards 
for  a  state  dinner-party,  "  signifying  to  the  Duchess  of  Kent 
his  wish  that  her  infant  daughter  should  accompany  her 
and  be  presented  to  the  assembled  guests."  Some  time 
before  this  her  uncle,  the  Duke  of  York,  had  made  a 
present  to  her  of  a  donkey,  which  she  prized  as  "  the  great 
est  treasure  she  possessed  in  the  world;"  and,  full  of  joyful 


406  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

anticipation  on  the  morning  of  this  memorable  visit,  "  I  am 
going,"  said  she,  "  to  see  the  King !"  and,  turning  to  her 
mother,  she  naively  asked,  "  Oh,  mamma !  shall  I  go  upon 
my  donkey  ?" 

From  her  cradle  to  her  accession  to  the  throne  Victoria 
was  never  separated  from  her  mother,  who  taught  her  her 
first  lessons  and  superintended  her  education,  assisted  by 
Rev.  George  Davys,  afterwards  Dean  of  Chester,  who  was 
appointed  her  preceptor  at  an  early  period,  and  held  the 
position  until  she  was  proclaimed  Queen.  At  five  years  of 
age  she  could  speak  three  languages, — English,  French,  and 
German, — and  when  she  was  eleven  she  not  only  spoke 
these  with  fluency,  but  also  was  acquainted  with  Italian, 
had  made  such  progress  in  Latin  as  to  be  able  to  read  "  Vir 
gil"  and  "  Horace"  with  ease,  and  had  commenced  Greek 
and  mathematics.  Her  moral  training  kept  pace  with  her 
intellectual  instruction.  Says  a  late  English  writer,  "  The 
cultivation  of  the  heart  of  her  child"  was  what  the  mother 
first  strove  to  accomplish ;  and,  "  above  everything,  any 
approach  to  pride  or  hauteur  was  discouraged."  She  was 
"  trained  to  be  courteous,  affable,  lively,  and  to  put  social 
inferiors  perfectly  at  their  ease."  Mr.  Davys  was  not  alone 
with  the  Duchess  as  guide  and  teacher  of  the  young  Prin 
cess.  She  likewise  had  special  instructions  in  the  different 
branches,  including  music,  drawing,  etc.,  and  always  showed 
herself  an  apt  student.  The  Duchess  of  Northumberland, 
at  the  suggestion  of  the  King,  was  appointed  her  governess. 

I  could  fill  pages  with  many  other  things  relative  to  the 
infancy  and  childhood  of  our  illustrious  heroine,  but  I 
must  skip  five  or  six  years  of  this  happy  domestic  life  and 
come  to  her  accession,  at  the  death  of  William  IV.,  on  the 
20th  of  June,  1837.  In  these  intervening  years  she  jour 
neyed  with  her  mother  throughout  the  larger  part  of  the 
United  Kingdom,  being  everywhere  received  with  pride 
and  acclamation  by  the  people  as  their  future  sovereign. 
To  show  something  of  the  manner  of  this  tour  of  in  spec- 


QUEEN  VICTORIA.  407 

tion,  information,  and  pleasure,  I  will  mention  one  incident. 
It  was  on  the  occasion  of  her  visit  at  Portsmouth  to  the 
Victory,  a  man-of-war.  "  Their  Royal  Highnesses,  having 
completed  their  interesting  inspection  of  the  ship,  seated 
themselves  at  one  of  the  mess  tables,  and  desired  the  dinner 
intended  for  the  seamen  of  that  mess  to  be  laid  before  them. 
This  being  done,  the  Princess,  with  her  mother  and  all  the 
ladies  of  her  suite,  drank  of  the  grog  and  partook  of  the 
beef  and  potatoes,  served  on  wooden  platters,  and  using 
the  knives  and  forks  belonging  to  the  mess.  The  Princess 
declared  that  the  dinner  was  much  to  her  liking ;  and  the 
delight  of  the  sailors  at  this  act  of  condescension  exceeded 

o 

all  bounds." 

I  should  also  remark,  before  proceeding  further,  that  the 
Princess  was  about  eleven  years  of  age  when  she  first 
became  aware  of  her  exalted  destiny;  and  this  fact,  which 
had  been  carefully  kept  from  her,  she  herself  discovered 
one  day  when  reading  English  history  with  her  governess. 
Both  her  governess  and  her  mother  were  startled  by  the 
questions  she  put,  and  were  obliged  to  admit  the  correctness 
of  her  conclusion.  This  was  in  1830,  the  year  William  IV. 
was  called  to  the  throne.  Seven  years  swiftly  passed,  and 
the  young  Princess,  at  the  age  of  less  than  one  month  over 
eighteen  years,  was  suddenly  summoned,  on  the  20th  of 
June,  1837,  to  take  his  place.  The  next  day  she  "  was 
publicly  proclaimed,  under  the  title  of  Alexandrina  Vic 
toria  I. ;  but  since  that  day  she  has  disused  the  Russian 
name  bestowed  upon  her  by  her  Muscovite  godfather,  pre 
ferring  to  retain  simply  VICTORIA." 

That  I  may  be  as  brief  as  possible,  I  need  not  describe 
the  accession  and  coronation  ceremonies.  Suffice  it  to  say 
they  were  appropriate,  as  they  were  solemn  and  gorgeous. 
Says  Miss  Martineau,  "  If  the  millions  who  longed  to  know 
how  the  young  sovereign  looked  and  felt  could  have  heard 
her  first  address,  it  would  have  gone  far  to  satisfy  them. 
The  address  was  of  course  prepared  for  her;  but  the 


408  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

manner  and  voice  were  her  own,  and  they  told  much. 
Her  manner  was  composed,  modest,  and  dignified;  her 
voice  firm  and  sweet ;  her  reading,  as  usual,  beautiful." 

The  next  great  event  in  the  Queen's  life  was  her  betrothal 
and  marriage  to  her  cousin,  Prince  Albert,  of  Saxe-Coburg- 
Gotha,  on  the  10th  of  February,  1840.  In  her  own  journal 
we  find  it  stated  that,  "  when  he  was  a  child  of  three  years 
old,  his  nurse  always  told  him  that  he  should  marry  the 
Queen,  and  that,  when  he  first  thought  of  marrying  at  all, 
he  always  thought  of  her."  In  her  own  memoirs  of  her 
lamented  husband,  we  have  also  a  full  and  touching  account 
of  their  courtship  and  marriage.  Their  first  meeting  was 
in  May,  1836,  on  the  occasion  of  a  six  weeks'  visit  of  the 
Duke  of  Coburg  with  his  two  sons,  Ernest  and  Albert,  to 
the  Duchess  of  Kent.  Albert  was  the  younger  of  the  two 
brothers,  and  three  months  the  junior  of  Victoria.  This 
visit  is  represented  as  having  afforded  great  pleasure,  par 
ticularly  to  the  royal  cousins,  Victoria  and  Albert,  who 
were  then  seventeen  years  of  age ;  nor  were  they  ignorant 
of  what  was  undoubtedly  its  leading  purpose.  Albert's 
mother,  the  Dowager  Duchess  of  Gotha,  had  often  spoken 
to  him,  years  before,  of  her  earnest  wishes  on  the  subject; 
and  although  we  have  the  Queen's  authority  for  the  state 
ment  that  "  nothing  was  settled"  at  the  time  of  this  visit,  a 
letter  from  her,  dated  June  7,  1836,  to  King  Leopold,  who 
took  a  lively  interest  in  bringing  about  this  happy  match, 
shows  plainly  what  she  designed  and  expected.  That  letter, 
referring  to  Prince  Albert,  concludes  :  "  I  have  only  now  to 
beg  you,  my  dear  uncle,  to  take  care  of  the  health  of  one 
now  so  dear  to  me,  and  to  take  him  under  your  special  pro 
tection.  I  hope  and  trust  that  all  will  now  go  on  prosper 
ously  and  well  on  this  subject,  now  of  so  much  importance 
to  me."  The  Prince,  however,  did  not  feel  so  sure  of  his 
position,  "being  kept  in  the  dark;"  and  after  waiting  in 
suspense  nearly  two  years,  and  knowing  that  any  offer  of 
marriage  must  now  be  made  by  the  Queen,  and  not  by  him- 


QUEEN  VICTORIA.  409 

self,  if  they  were  ever  to  become  husband  and  wife,  he. 
intimated  to  King  Leopold  that,  while  he  was  willing  to 
wait  provided  only  that  he  could  have  "  some  certain  as 
surance  to  go  upon,"  without  such  assurance  he  might  in 
justice  to  himself  feel  obliged  to  take  himself  out  of  the 
way.  Fortunately  it  was  not  so  to  be ;  and  the  Queen  has 
since  reproached  herself  that  "  she  had  not,  after  accession, 
kept  up  the  correspondence  with  her  cousin  as  she  had  done 
before  it,  instead"  (she  says)  "  of  keeping  him  waiting  for 
probably  three  or  four  years,  at  the  risk  of  ruining  all  his 
prospects  for  life,  until  she  might  feel  inclined  to  marry." 

On  the  10th  of  October,  1839,  the  two  Princes,  Ernest 
and  Albert,  arrived  at  Windsor  Castle,  bearing  a  letter 
from  the  King  of  the  Belgians,  commending  them  to  the 
Queen,  "  who  received  them  herself  at  the  top  of  the  stair 
case  and  conducted  them  at  once  to  the  Duchess  of  Kent." 
In  less  than  one  week  thereafter,  on  the  15th,  the  Queen 
sent  for  Prince  Albert  to  come  to  her  room,  where  he 
found  her  alone.  The  next  day  the  Prince  wrote  to  "  the 
old  friend  of  the  family,  Baron  Stockmar,  who  was  natu 
rally  one  of  the  first  to  be  informed  of  his  engagement. 
4 1  write  to  you,'  he  says,  <  on  one  of  the  happiest  days  of 
my  life,  to  give  you  the  most  welcome  news  possible.' '  He 
then  describes  what  took  place,  "  and  ends  by  saying,  4  More 
or  more  seriously  I  cannot  write  to  you,  for  that,  at  this 
moment,  I  am  too  bewildered.' '  The  Queen  herself  says, 
"  The  Prince  received  her  offer  without  any  hesitation  and 
with  the  warmest  demonstration  of  kindness  and  affection," 
adding,  in  the  words  of  her  journal,  "  How  I  will  strive  to 
make  him  feel  as  little  as  possible  the  sacrifice  he  has  made. 
I  told  him  it  was  a  great  sacrifice  on  his  part,  but  he  would 
not  allow  it." 

It  was  the  commonly  received  report  at  the  time,  that  at 
one  of  the  palace  balls,  just  before  this  final  engagement, 
Victoria  "  took  occasion  to  present  her  bouquet  to  the  Prince 
at  the  conclusion  of  a  dance,  and  that  the  hint  was  not  lost 


410  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

upon  the  polite  and  gallant  German.  His  close  uniform, 
buttoned  up  to  the  throat,  did  not  admit  of  placing  the 
Persian-like  gift  where  it  would  be  most  honored;  so  he 
drew  his  penknife  and  cut  a  slit  in  his  dress  in  the  neigh 
borhood  of  his  heart,  where  he  gracefully  deposited  the 
happy  omen." 

Now,  again,  from  the  necessity  of  brevity,  I  am  reluc 
tantly  constrained  to  dismiss  this  delightful  subject  with 
only  a  few  more  words.  The  young  Princes  returned  to 
Germany  on  the  14th  of  November,  but  on  the  following 
28th  of  January  Albert  came  back  to  England  in  state,  and 
on  the  10th  of  February,  1840,  his  marriage  with  Victoria 
took  place  and  u  was  magnificently  celebrated  in  the  Chapel 
Royal  of  St.  James  Palace." 

Nothing  now  occurred  seriously  to  disturb  the  happiness 
of  the  young  couple  until  the  10th  of  June  following,  when, 
as  they  were  driving  in  a  phaeton  up  Constitution  Hill  in 
London,  a  young  man  named  Oxford,  seventeen  or  eighteen 
years  of  age,  fired  two  pistol-shots  at  the  Queen,  but  hap 
pily  without  effect.  The  fellow  was  at  once  arrested,  and, 
as  one  writer  states,  "it  being  impossible  to  assign  any 
conceivable  cause  for  the  act,  he  was  declared  insane  and 
doomed  to  incarceration  for  life."  Theodore  Martin,  au 
thor  of  the  "Life  of  the  Prince  Consort,"  however,  says, 
"  There  was  no  doubt  that  the  wretched  creature  knew 
what  he  was  about,  and  acted,  so  far  as  intentions  can  be 
judged  by  acts,  with  a  murderous  intent.  It  would  have 
been  well,  as  events  proved  [he  continues],  if  he  had  been 
dealt  with  on  this  footing."  The  best  comment  on  the 
lenity  shown  in  allowing  him  to  escape  by  "  the  insanity 
dodge, "  Mr.  Martin  further  remarks,  "  was  pronounced  by 
Oxford  himself  on  being  told  of  similar  attempts  of  Francis 
and  Bean  in  1842,  when  he  declared  that  if  he  had  been 
hanged,  there  would  have  been  no  more  shooting  at  the 
Queen." 

The  next  attempt  on  the  life  of  the  Queen,  that  of  John 


QUEEN  VICTORIA.  411 

Francis,  represented  by  Prince  Albert  as  "  a  little  swarthy, 
ill-looking  rascal,"  occurred  in  1842,  close  to  the  spot  of 
the  former  shooting,  arid  when  the  Queen  and  her  husband 
were  returing  home  from  a  drive.  The  scoundrel  was  only 
five  paces  from  them  when  he  fired,  without  effect,  and  was 
immediately  seized  by  a  policeman.  He  was  tried,  found 
guilty  of  high  treason,  and  sentenced  to  death,  which  sen 
tence,  at  the  instance  of  the  merciful  Queen,  was  afterwards 
commuted  into  a  sentence  of  transportation  for  life.  We 
have  Prince  Albert's  statement  that,  during  the  trial,  the 
fellow  was  not  out  of  his  mind,  but  that  he  was  "  a  thorough 
scamp,"  and  that  the  populace  were  in  a  state  of  extreme 
indignation  "  against  him.  His  answers/'  the  Prince  says, 
"  are  evasive  and  witty.  He  tries  to  make  fun  of  his 
judges."  "  Yet,"  observes  Mr.  Martin,  "  after  the  sentence 
of  death  was  pronounced  upon  him,  the  wretched  vanity 
which,  more  than  any  murderous  intent,  had  prompted 
his  dastardly  outrage,  could  no  longer  maintain  the  sem 
blance  of  indifference  which  he  had  hitherto  affected,  and 
he  fell  swooning  into  a  turnkey's  arms,  and  was  carried 
insensible  from  the  court." 

This  merciful  act  of  commutation  had  hardly  become 
public  before  still  another  attempt  was  made  on  Victoria's 
life,  the  culprit  this  time  being  what  Prince  Albert,  in 
writing  to  his  father,  under  date  of  July  4,  1842,  called  "  a 
hunchback  wretch,"  whose  name  was  Bean.  He  had  tried 
to  shoot  at  the  carriage  in  which  the  Queen,  Prince  Albert, 
and  their  uncle  Leopold  were  sitting ;  but  his  pistol  missed 
fire.  On  being  examined,  it  "  was  found  to  contain  some 
powder,  paper  lightly  rammed  down,  and  some  pieces  of 
clay  pipe." 

Bean  appeared  to  have  been  more  fool  than  knave,  and 
he  was  tried  and  sentenced,  on  the  25th  of  August,  to 
eighteen  months'  imprisonment,  under  an  act  passed  the 
preceding  month,  which  act  not  only  made  all  such  at 
tempts  punishable  by  imprisonment  or  transportation,  but 


412  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

also  directed  that  the  culprit  should  "  be  publicly  or  pri 
vately  whipped  as  often  and  in  such  manner  and  form  as 
the  court  shall  direct,  not  exceeding  thrice." 

On  the  19th  of  May,  1849,  on  Constitution  Hill,  an  Irish 
bricklayer,  named  Hamilton,  fired  a  pistol,  charged  only 
with  powder,  at  the  Queen,  and  he  was  sentenced  to  seven 
years'  transportation.  On  the  27th  of  May,  1850,  as  she 
was  leaving  the  Duke  of  Cumberland's  residence  in  her 
carriage,  she  was  struck  in  the  face  by  Robert  Pale,  an  ex- 
lieutenant  of  hussars,  but  not  seriously  hurt.  He  was  like 
wise  sentenced  to  seven  years'  transportation. 

The  latest  attempt  on  the  life  of  the  Queen  was  in  April, 
1852,  when  "  a  worthless  vagabond,  by  the  name  of  Rod 
erick  McLane,  fired  a  pistol-shot  at  her  at  the  London  Rail 
way  Station,  but  without  effect.  He  was  at  once  arrested, 
tried,  and  acquitted  on  the  ground  of  insanity  clearly 
proven." 

On  the  29th  of  February,  1872,  Arthur  O'Connor,  a  boy 
of  seventeen,  pointed  an  empty  pistol  at  the  Queen  as  she 
was  entering  Buckingham  Palace  after  a  ride.  The  plea 
was  insanity,  but  he  was  sentenced  to  a  whipping  and 
twelve  months'  transportation. 

It  not  being  the  purpose  of  this  sketch  to  recount,  as  it 
might,  the  many  wise  public  acts  of  administration  in  which 
the  hand  of  the  good  Queen  is  often  plainly  visible,  I  will 
hasten  to  a  close  by  the  mention  of  a  few  incidents  in 
which  she  has  been  brought  lovingly  into  intimate  rela 
tions  with  the  people  of  the  United  States.  One  of  the 
most  noted  of  these  occurred  at  the  completion  of  the  At 
lantic  cable  in  August,  1858,  a  wonderful  feat,  which  aston 
ished  the  whole  world.  On  the  16th  of  that  month  Vic 
toria  addressed  to  President  Buchanan  this  cablegram, — 
about  the  first,  if  not  the  very  first,  which  passed  over  the 
wires :  "  Her  Majesty  desires  to  congratulate  the  President 
upon  the  successful  completion  of  the  great  international 
work  in  which  the  Queen  has  taken  the  deepest  interest." 


QUEEN  VICTORIA.  413 

This  despatch  reached  the  President  at  the  Soldiers' 
Home,  when  he  immediately  came  to  the  White  House 
and  responded  in  a  longer  cablegram,  cordially  recipro 
cating  the  Queen's  congratulations,  and  expressing  the  hope 
that,  "  under  the  blessing  of  Heaven,"  the  telegraph  might 
"  prove  to  be  a  bond  of  perpetual  peace  and  friendship  be 
tween  the  kindred  nations,  and  an  instrument  destined  by 
Divine  Providence  to  diffuse  religion,  civilization,  liberty, 
and  law  throughout  the  world." 

The  next  pleasant  incident  of  the  kind  was  in  1860, 
when  President  Buchanan,  learning  that  the  Prince  of 
Wales  was  about  to  visit  Canada,  wrote  Her  Majesty,  say 
ing  :  "  Should  it  be  the  intention  of  His  Royal  Highness  to 
extend  his  visit  to  the  United  States,  I  need  not  say  how 
happy  I  should  be  to  give  him  a  cordial  welcome  to  Wash 
ington.  You  may  be  well  assured  that  everywhere  in  this 
country  he  will  be  greeted  by  the  American  people  in  such 
a  manner  as  cannot  fail  to  prove  gratifying  to  your  Majesty. 
In  this  they  will  manifest  their  deep  sense  of  your  do 
mestic  virtues  as  well  as  their  convictions  of  your  merits 
as  a  wise,  patriotic,  and  constitutional  sovereign." 

I  copy  the  Queen's  answer  entire,  as  follows : 

"  BUCKINGHAM  PALACE,  June  22,  1860. 

"  MY  GOOD  FRIEXD, — I  have  been  much  gratified  at  the  feelings 
which  prompted  you  to  write  to  me,  inviting  the  Prince  of  Wales  to 
come  to  Washington.  He  intends  to  return  from  Canada  through  the 
United  States,  and  it  will  afford  him  great  pleasure  to  have  an  opportu 
nity  of  testifying  to  you  in  person  that  these  feeling  are  fully  recipro 
cated  by  him.  He  will  thus  be  able,  at  the  same  time,  to  mark  the 
respect  which  he  entertains  for  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  a  great  and 
friendly  state  and  kindred  nation. 

"  The  Prince  of  Wales  will  drop  all  royal  state  on  leaving  my  domin 
ions,  and  travel  under  the  name  of  Lord  Renfrew,  as  he  has  done  when 
travelling  on  the  continent  of  Europe. 

"  The  Prince  Consort  wishes  to  be  kindly  remembered  to  you. 
"  I  remain  ever  your  Good  Friend, 

"  VICTORIA  R." 


414  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

How  beautiful  and  how  gratifying  was  all  this  ! 

We  all  know  that  the  Prince  of  Wales  did  extend  his 
visit  to  the  United  States,  and  that  the  President  gave  a 
special  reception  at  the  White  House  in  his  honor,  where 
the  young  Prince  and  suite,  with  an  immense  crowd  of  the 
elite  of  Washington,  citizens,  and  transient  visitors  were 
entertained  in  becoming  style.  I  may  add  that  it  was  my 
good  fortune  to  be  present  and  to  have  a  pleasant  chat  with 
His  Royal  Highness. 

And  now  we  come  to  another,  and,  in  its  results,  a  vastly 
more  important  event, — the  aifair  of  the  Trent.  On  the  7th 
of  November,  1861,  and  near  the  beginning  of  our  terrible 
war,  that  British  steamer  left  Havana  for  England  with  the 
mails  and  passengers,  and  on  the  next  day  was  met  by  the 
San  Jacinto,  a  United  States  ship-of-war,  commanded  by 
Captain  (afterwards  Rear-Admiral)  Wilkes.  Brought  to 
by  a  round  shot,  soon  afterwards  followed  by  a  shell,  fired 
by  the  San  Jacinto  across  her  bow,  the  Trent,  by  order  of 
Captain  Wilkes,  was  at  once  boarded  by  Lieutenant  (after 
wards  Rear-Admiral)  Fairfax,  accompanied  by  a  guard  of 
marines,  and  Messrs.  Mason  and  Slidell,  accredited  envoys 
of  the  Confederate  States  to  England  and  France,  respect 
ively,  with  their  secretaries,  Messrs.  McFarland  and  Eustis, 
were  forcibly  removed,  and  brought  by  the  San  Jacinto  to 
the  United  States  as  prisoners  of  war.  As  soon  as  this 
bold,  but  no  doubt  very  imprudent,  act  became  known 
in  England,  it  produced  the  greatest  excitement,  and  the 
British  Lion  instantly  prepared  for  war  !  Instructions  of 
a  threatening  character  were  drawn  up  and  submitted  by 
Lord  John  Russell  to  the  Cabinet,  and  then  sent  to  the 
Queen  for  her  approval,  before  being  forwarded  to  Lord 
Lyons,  British  Minister  at  Washington.  They  embodied  a 
demand  for  the  release  and  restoration  of  the  prisoners  to 
British  protection,  as  well  as  a  disavowal  of  the  act  of  Cap 
tain  Wilkes,  with  instructions  to  Lord  Lyons  to  retire  from 
the  United  States  should  this  demand  be  refused.  I  think 


QUEEN  VICTORIA.  415 

I  am  justified  in  expressing  the  opinion  that,  had  these  in 
structions  gone  out  without  material  modification,  either 
the  United  States  would  have  been  disgracefully  humbled 
by  yielding,  or  war  with  Great  Britain  would  have  been  the 
fearful  alternative,  the  result  of  which  at  that  crisis  in  our 
affairs  I  shudder  to  think  could  have  been  nothing  short 
of  a  fatal  disruption  of  our  glorious  Union ! 

Prince  Albert  drafted  a  memorandum  to  accompany  the 
Cabinet  paper  on  its  return.  This  was  slightly  changed  in 
the  Queen's  own  hand,  as  appears  from  a  fac-simile  of  it 
which  I  have  seen,  and  it  contains  their  suggestions  for  a 
softening  modification  of  the  original  despatch  submitted 
by  the  Cabinet.  It  is  most  gratifying  to  know  that  it  was 
couched  in  friendly  terms,  and  the  Cabinet  paper  being  mod 
elled  upon  the  line  thus  indicated,  it  was  divested  of  its 
harsh  features,  and  led,  as  is  well  known,  to  an  amicable 
settlement  of  the  unpleasant  affair.  All  honor  and  a  thou 
sand  heartfelt  thanks  to  the  Queen  and  her  noble  hus 
band. 

"Who  will  say  that  this  happy  settlement  of  a  most  dan 
gerous  complication  was  not  in  great  measure  due  to  the 
good  offices,  already  cited,  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  and  his  remark 
ably  agreeable  relations  with  the  Queen  and  Prince  Consort 
while  he  was  United  States  Minister  to  the  Court  of  St. 
James  ?  It  is  well  known  that  he  was  a  great  favorite  with 
both,  especially  with  the  Queen,  and  that  he  held  them  in 
highest  esteem. 

But  I  must  turn  for  a  moment  from  these  pleasant  re 
flections  to  sombre  and  sadder  scenes.  The  Queen  had, 
only  a  few  months  before,  on  the  16th  of  May,  1861,  been 
deprived,  by  death,  of  one  of  the  dearest  and  best  of 
mothers,  the  estimable  Duchess  of  Kent,  and  now,  at  the 
very  time  of  greatest  need  of  his  counsel  and  assistance, 
her  beloved  husband  was  soon  to  be  cruelly  snatched  from 
her  by  the  all- destroy  ing  angel  of  death !  The  paper  just 
described  was  the  last  political  memorandum  he  ever  wrote, 


416  TUKNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

and  when  he  handed  it  to  the  Queen,  being  seriously  ill, 
"  he  told  her  that  he  could  scarcely  hold  the  pen  while 
writing  it."  This  was  on  the  1st  of  December.  At  a 
quarter  past  ten  o'clock  on  the  night  of  the  14th  of  that 
month  his  great  soul  took  its  flight  u  to  seek  a  nobler  scope 
for  its  aspirations  in  the  world  within  the  veil,"  and  the 
Queen  was  overwhelmed  by  a  grief  indescribable,  and  from 
which  she  can  never  entirely  recover  on  this  side  of  the 
grave.  Intense,  however,  as  her  grief  has  been,  impelling 
her  to  comparative  seclusion,  she  has  never  failed  to  per 
form  her  sovereign  administrative  duties.  For  the  first 
time  after  her  bereavement,  she  opened  Parliament  in  per 
son  not  until  February,  1876,  and  she  never  once  appeared 
at  the  theatre,  after  the  death  of  the  Prince,  until  after  the 
4th  of  October,  1881,  when  she  was  persuaded  by  the  Prince 
of  Wales  to  attend  a  private  dramatic  entertainment  gotten 
up  by  him  at  Abergeldie  Castle,  Scotland,  expressly  for  her 
diversion. 

In  April,  1886,  by  act  of  Parliament  proposed  by  Mr. 
Disraeli,  she  was  authorized,  in  addition  to  her  title  of 
Queen,  to  assume  that  of  Empress  of  India. 

The  Queen's  own  appalling  bereavement  has,  no  doubt, 
so  wrought  upon  her  finer  sensibilities  that  whenever  she 
hears  of  those  similarly  stricken,  her  heart  at  once  goes  out 
toward  them  in  warmest  sympathy.  Thus,  when  President 
Lincoln  was  assassinated,  she  "  sent  to  his  widow  a  long 
letter,  which  her  son,  Robert  Lincoln,  described  as  the  out- 
gushing  of  a  woman's  heartfelt  sympathy," — a  letter  which 
he  informs  me  has  never  been  published. 

Not  so  with  her  touching  appeals  for  exact  information 
regarding  the  condition,  from  time  to  time,  of  our  lamented 
President  Garfield,  and  her  repeated  messages  of  earnest 
sympathy  and  condolence  through  the  period  of  his  fatal 
illness  and  death.  I  present  these  in  their  order  of  date, 
with  the  remark  that  she  was  also,  no  doubt,  kept  constantly 
informed  on  the  subject  through  Mr.  Lowell,  our  Minister 


QUEEN  VICTORIA.  417 

in  London.  The  first  was  sent  through  Lord  Granville  at 
five  o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of  July  2,  1881,  the  day  the 
President  was  shot. 

"  To  Sir  Edward  Thornton,  the  British  Embassy,  Washing 
ton  :  The  Queen  desires  that  you  will  at  once  express  the 
sorrow  with  which  she  has  learned  of  the  attempt  upon  the 
President's  life  and  her  earnest  hope  of  his  recovery.  Her 
Majesty  wishes  for  fall  and  immediate  reports  of  his  con 
dition." 

July  3,  from  Mr.  Lowell  to  Mr.  Elaine,  Secretary  of 
State  :  "  Just  received  the  following  from  the  Queen :  '  I 
am  most  anxious  to  hear  latest  accounts  of  the  President, 
and  wish  my  horror  and  deep  sympathy  to  be  conveyed  to 
him  and  Mrs.  Garfield.' ' 

Same  date,  from  Sir  H.  Ponsonby,  Windsor  Castle,  to 
British  Minister :  "  The  Queen  is  most  anxious  to  learn 
as  to  the  state  of  the  President.  Please  wire  latest 
news." 

July  14,  from  Mr.  Lowell,  London,  to  Mr.  Elaine :  "  I 
have  received  the  following  from  the  Queen :  '  I  wish  to 
express  my  great  satisfaction  at  the  very  favorable  accounts 
of  the  President,  and  hope  that  he  will  soon  be  considered 
out  of  danger.' ' 

August  17,  the  Queen  to  Mrs.  Garfield:  "I  am  most 
anxious  to  know  how  the  President  is  to-day,  and  to  express 
my  sympathy  with  you  both."  To  this  Mrs.  Garfield  sent 
an  encouraging  reply  and  grateful  acknowledgment, 

August  27,  from  Mr.  Lowell  to  Mr.  Elaine  :  u  I  have  just 
received  from  Her  Majesty,  the  Queen,  at  Balmoral,  a  tele 
gram  in  these  words  :  '  I  am  most  deeply  grieved  at  the  sad 
news  of  the  last  few  days,  and  would  wish  my  deep  sympa 
thy  to  be  conveyed  to  Mr.  Garfield.' ' 

The  next  and  last  despatch  was  received  on  the  morning 
of  September  20,  and  discloses  the  long-dreaded  and  heart 
rending  end  of  this  frightful  tragedy : 

27 


418  TURNING  ON  THE  LIGHT. 

"  Mrs.  Grarfield,  Long  Branch:  Words  cannot  express  the 
deep  sympathy  I  feel  with  you  at  this  terrible  moment. 
May  God  support  and  comfort  you  as  He  alone  can. 

"THE  QUEEN. 
"  Balmoral  Court," 

On  the  following  day  word  came  that  the  Queen  had 
ordered  the  Court  to  go  into  mourning  for  the  late  Presi 
dent  Garfield  for  a  week  from  the  21st  of  September, — "  a 
tribute  of  respect,"  the  London  Times  remarked,  "  which 
will  be  all  the  more  valued  by  the  Americans,  as  it  is  un 
precedented,  no  similar  notice  having  been  taken  previously 
by  the  English  Court  of  the  death  of  an  American  President 
in  office."^ 

And,  now,  as  her  last  beautiful  offering,  on  the  22d  of 
September  the  good  Queen  telegraphed  the  British  Minis 
ter  to  have  a  floral  tribute  prepared  and  presented  in  her 
name  with  a  mourning  card  bearing  the  following  inscrip 
tion  : 

"  Queen  Victoria,  to  the  memory  of  the  late  President 
Garfield :  an  expression  of  her  sorrow  and  sympathy  with 
Mrs.  Garfield  and  the  American  nation. 

"  September  22,  1881." 

Under  date  of  London,  July  21,  1884,  President  Arthur 
received  and  gracefully  acknowledged  the  following  cable 
message : 

"  To  the  President  of  the  United  States,  Washington:  The 
Queen  heartily  congratulates  the  President  and  people  of 
the  United  States  on  the  rescue  of  Lieutenant  Greeley  and 
the  gallant  survivors  of  the  Arctic  expedition.  She  trusts 
that  favorable  reports  have  been  received  of  the  sufferers. 

"THE  QUEEN. 

"  Windsor  Castle." 

Yet  once  more,  when  the  whole  country  was 
"  Robed  in  the  sable  garb  of  woe," 


QUEEN  VICTORIA.  419 

at  the  death  of  the  great  soldier  of  the  war,  the  Queen 
manifested  the  same  considerate  womanly  feeling  as  on 
previous  mournful  occasions,  through  the  despatch,  July  21, 
1885,  to  Mrs.  Grant,  saying:  "  Her  Majesty,  the  Queen, 
requests  me  to  convey  to  yourself  and  family  her  sincere 
condolence  on  the  death  of  General  Grant." 

Finally,  on  the  2d  of  June,  1886,  Her  Gracious  Majesty 
sent  the  following  despatch  to  President  Cleveland  :  "  Pray 
accept  my  sincere  congratulations  on  your  marriage,  and 
my  best  wishes  for  your  happiness." 

"  Come,  now,  ye  kings  of  the  earth  and  all  people,  princes 
and  all  judges  of  the  world,  young  men  and  maidens,  old 
men  and  children,"  come  and  behold  one  of  the  kindest 
and  most  devoted  of  daughters;  one  of  the  most  loving 
and  considerate  of  mothers ;  one  of  the  happiest  and  most 
irreproachable  of  wives ;  one  of  the  sincerest  and  most 
sympathetic  of  friends ;  one  of  the  wisest,  the  best,  the 
most  universally  respected  of  sovereigns  that  ever  sat  on 
any  throne.  At  her  feet  I  lay  this  humble  tribute  with 
the  devout  and  soul-inspired  aspiration — "  GOD  SAVE  THE 
QUEEN  !" 


[COPY.] 

(PERSONAL.) 

BRITISH  EMBASSY,  9th  May,  1894. 

DEAR  MR.  KING,— I  owe  you  many  apologies  for  keeping 
so  long  the  MS.  you  kindly  lent  me  of  your  admirable 
biographical  sketch  of  Queen  Victoria.  I  finished  its 
perusal  a  few  days  ago,  and  was  about  to  write  to  you  to 
say  how  much  pleasure  it  gave  me,  when  I  received  your 
note.  I  hasten  to  return  the  MS.  and  to  express  my  high 
appreciation  of  its  literary  merit  as  well  as  of  the  kind  sen 
timents  toward  England  and  her  sovereign  with  which  it  is 

inspired. 

Yrs.  sincerely, 

JULIAN  PAUNCEFOTE. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


V 


APR         1959 


MAR  15  1959 


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J3EC  n  3  1994 


YC  50621 


U:  C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


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